Love Between Wind and Black Flames
by DarkFlame Alchemist
Summary: Karai is head of the Uchiha family, sister clan to the Kannagi family, a few years after her best friend and childhood crush, Kazuma, became banished; when he returns home, will they finally be together? KazumaxOC
1. I Failed You

**Chapter 1: I Failed You**

**Hello Everyone! This is**** DarkFlame Alchemist**** finally making a story after many years of having these ideas in my head and not sharing them with the world! Hopefully I will be able to be up-to-date with them unlike the very first story I made which I failed at continuing. -_- **

**By the way, this is the re-edited version of chapter after I saw how many mistakes I made. -_- **

**Anyway, hope you will like it! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: DarkFlame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma except for her OC, Karai Uchiha.**

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_**Prologue**_

A group of boys were bullying a ten-year old boy with brown hair, shooting small flames at him.

"You are so worthless! You are part of the Kannagi family and you aren't even a fire magic user like we are!" said one of the boys.

"Yeah, why are you in this family anyway?" said another boy as the rest of them continued laughing at how pathetic he looked.

The boy just laid on the floor curled up as flames were being shot at him. Suddenly, black flames were shot at the bullies.

They ran around like lunatics after they were flamed themselves. After the flames disappeared from them, they looked at the person who attacked them. To their surprise, it was a small black-haired ten-year-old girl. She stood there with cold red eyes and crossed arms.

"Just what do you think you're doing? Picking on somebody who isn't as talented as you are!" she yelled, "And what's worse… He's your relative!"

"Who are you to talk to us like that? You're just a little girl! You are not even part of our family so why don't you go play with your girly toys and just leave us be," retorted one of the boys.

"Heh, do you even know who I am?" the little girl said.

"No. Should we? Little girl?" laughed the same boy, with the others following what he was doing. There was one boy, though, that didn't do the same. His eyes widened from realization of who the girl was, "Omg, your Karai Uchiha, of our sister family!" The boys stopped laughing and all thought the same thing, _"Oh crap_."

A grin appeared on Karai's face, which went away as she replied proudly, "Yes I am Karai Uchiha, successor of the head of the Uchiha family. I am ashamed with you morons who are apparently my relatives. I will not tolerate this bullying any longer." She held out her hand in front of her and a black flame appeared, "Leave now or else I will burn your butts again!"

"Yes ma'am!" They all replied before scurrying away.

Karai had a smirk on her face as the bullies left. She went in front of the curled up boy and extended her hand, "Need some help there?" she asked with a smile on her face and warm eyes, with the coldness gone.

The boy on the floor looked up at her and slowly grabbed her hand. Karai helped him up, "Those jerks are the worthless ones for picking on you like that. Sheesh," she replied to him with an annoyed face. He remained quiet as he kept on staring at her, speechless.

"So what is your name, oh silent one?" she said with a grin.

Finally, he spoke, "Ka-Kazuma Kannagi… and thank you for helping me against those guys," he said with a small smile.

"Why wouldn't I? After all, aren't we relatives?" she said with a smile. An idea then popped in her head, "Hey, if you ever have a problem with those guys or with anyone, call me and I'll take care of them for you, okay?"

"Okay, and when I am skilled with something of my own, I'll protect you!" He beamed with sudden confidence that came out of nowhere.

"Sure, but you can't just protect me. You have to protect everyone!" She told him.

"All right then! I promise that I'll be able to protect everyone in the future!" He swore.

"Then it is settled!" They smiled at each other. Afterwards, they went off to go play somewhere.

_**Eight Years Later….**_

_**Karai's Point of View**_

"Karai! Wake up you sleepyhead!"

"I didn't do it!" I yelled as my head shot up. I had fallen asleep….. again. _'Ughhh, if I keep this up, Dad is surely going to kill me for slacking off as the heir of the head of the Uchiha clan.'_ I thought as I looked at the one who woke me up. It was Kazuma, my best friend.

He chuckled from my statement, "Is there something that you want to tell me, Karai?"

"No there isn't!" I yelled annoyingly at him from my drowsiness, "Besides, what are you doing in my room?" I questioned him.

"Umm we were supposed to meet at the spot over an hour ago. I couldn't wait any longer so I went looking for you, and what do I find? You sleeping!" Kazuma complained. _'Oh yeah… we were supposed to meet at the meadow,' _I thought as I slowly remembered what he was talking about.

I just rolled my eyes, "Well exxccusssee me! It's not my fault they keep me busy to the point where I am dying of exhaustion!"

He finally calmed down and sighed, "No, I'm sorry. I'm just overreacting. I know how pressured you are since you are becoming the head of your family." His eyes looked to the side sadly, "I can't say the same for myself… I'm not a fire magic user to begin with. I am not skilled in anything, unlike you."

"Come on, Kazuma, you're one of the heirs for the position as head of your family as well," I assured him, "You'll be able to use fire magic eventually, or maybe some other magic type!"

"Yeah right, even if I did master some other magic type, I'll disgrace the family because all members of the Kannagi family have been fire magic users for many generations," he said miserably, "Except me."

I got off my chair and went to him. I put my arms around his neck and my chin on his shoulder while he put his head in my neck and encircled his arms around my waist, "Don't worry about that Kazuma. Besides, it will be okay because I accept you for who you are and I will help you in any way I can when I am head of my clan, kay? Don't forget your promise." I rubbed one of my hands on his back in a circular motion to comfort him.

"I know, I know. I just wish I am the protector now, instead of you always protecting me," he said in my neck, "It's hurting my pride as a man you know."

I try to restrain myself from laughing at that "pride" comment, but managed to let out a small chuckle, "Oh come on Kazuma, don't be like that." He just tightened his hold on me, not saying anything.

It was silent for a few minutes before I sighed, "One of these days Kazuma, your life will change dramatically for the better. By that point, there will be a time when I will be the one who needs rescuing, or even someone else! And I know that you are going to be the protector then. You just need to have a little faith. Don't just put yourself down," I assureed him.

"Karai… thank you. You are practically the only person who has been there for me," Kazuma quietly said with a smile.

We pulled away slightly and stared at each other, still in the same positions. Soon, we started leaning towards each other's face, our lips almost touching, but then the door opened. We immediately pulled away and saw who entered the room. The person standing at the door was my father.

"Ah Kazuma, there you are," the head of the Uchiha family said, "Your father is here looking for you… he said you have to attend something very important today."

"Really? Ok then," Kazuma said to my father, surprised, before he and I gave each other another hug and pulled away from each other once again.

"Karai, I'll see you later in the meadow then. Do I need to come get you again?" he replied jokingly while looking at me with a pretend annoyed face.

I rolled my eyes at him, "No, I'll be there," I said before smiling.

He chuckled and went to the door before turning around, facing me once again and smiling, "Oh and thank you… for your encouragement. I feel a lot better now."

"No problem," I answered him before we gave small waves at each other before he left for sure, going ahead of father. Before he followed Kazuma to the front door, I thought I saw some sadness in my father's eyes… like something bad was going to happen.

I had an uneasy feeling, but shrugged it off as I went back to my chair and thought about my relationship with Kazuma. Ever since that day I helped him out, we've always been close and would spend time with each other whenever we weren't busy with our family duties and training.

Lots of time I would have to help him out whenever those cousins of his were bullying him. He was never able to stand up to them, mostly since he didn't possess any fire magic, which was odd for something like that to happen to him since he was part of the head family.

There were times, though, that he showed courage. It was a once in a blue moon event that would occur. These times would be when I ended up in trouble and he would stand up for me. In the end, I would still be the one to finish the dispute. He would think that he was never useful when, in fact, he has been a lot. After a while, I came to realize that I liked him more than just a best friend… and after tonight, I know that I have fallen for him, seeing as how we almost kissed.

So after much contemplating on whether I should tell him my feelings or not, I decided to go with it.

Too bad I didn't know that the worst was yet to come…

_**That Night…**_

I trained for over an hour as I waited for Kazuma to arrive in our spot where we would always meet: a small, grassy clearing with a tall sakura tree in one of the corners. We found this spot a few years ago and have been coming here ever since without anyone bothering us. Ironically, mother and father actually have been here before which was surpising.

After much waiting, Kazuma still didn't show up. Then, half an hour later, my father arrived. I stopped what I was doing and went in front of him. He stared at me with those same sad eyes that he had a few hours ago.

"Father, is something the matter?" I asked with a worried face.

He sighed, "Kazuma left our house earlier because he had to attend the successor ceremony to determine who would become the heir of his family. I found out just recently that he lost against his cousin, Ayano Kannagi."

I was shocked, but remained calm, "But isn't that ok? He won't have to worry about the responsibilities then."

He shook his head, "His father banished him shortly after he was defeated," he said sadly, "I'm sorry Karai; he's gone."

That instant, my heart ached. Kazuma was gone and left without telling me.

Father then started to rub his back of his neck, "Besides that, there is something that I need to tell you," he said looking at me.

"And what would that be father?" I asked curiously, yet still sad from the horrible news that I had just received.

He had noticed at how unhappy I looked right now and waved a hand off, "Never mind, I'll tell you some other time with your mother. Tonight isn't a good night for you," he said before giving me a hug, letting go and starting walking away. He stopped for a minute and turned his head, side-glancing at me, "take as long as you need, but remember… you have your duties as successor of this family," He looked ahead and walked away.

After standing there for what seemed like forever, I slowly fell to my knees with my hands on the floor and head hidden.

"He didn't even say goodbye to me," I said to no one as tears slowly fell down my face, "but it's my own fault for not acting on my instincts… for not being there for him when he needed it." I clenched the grass as the tears continued to drop on the ground.

After a few minutes passed which seemed like forever, I got up and started to walk slowly to the sakura tree. When I reached it, I looked at the initials Kaz & Kar engraved on the tree. We wrote it there symbolizing our friendship and claiming the tree as ours. I put my hand on the initials.

_'Kazuma….. I failed you.'_

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**Hope you guys liked it so far. Please review =)**


	2. A Wind Surfaces

**Chapter 2: A Wind Surfaces**

**Hello again! This is the second chapter of the story, now re-edited!**

**Disclaimer: Dark Flame Alchemist doesn't own Kaze no Stigma except for her OC.**

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_**Four Years Later**_

_**Karai's Point of View**_

I sat in the private jet, staring at the window as I waited to return home after handling some business with some clients in a different city. I was finally able to get out of my formal kimono and wear my usual clothing: a red tank top, black flared jeans, red fingerless gloves, black boots with heels, and a black sleeveless trench coat with a hood.

It has been four years since Kazuma was banished and two years since the death of my parents. They died during a battle which my clan assumed was caused by the Fuga clan, who our family despised. I still remember that day when I received the news.

**Flashback**

_I was training with my cousin Ichiru, a member of the second branch, when several of the family members came and interrupted our sparring. _

"_Lady Karai, we have terrible news," said one of the members._

_I looked at them curiously, wondering what news could it be this time, "Well? What is it?"_

_Another member spoke up with sad eyes, "It seems your parents and some of the family members were attacked by wind magic users. Although we have no evidence, we suspect it was the Fuga clan." _

_I stood there with my fists clenched, holding in all my anger that I wanted to release, but had to keep in because of what happened next that wasn't supposed to happen for a while. _

_The members stepped aside to the left and right to reveal my Uncle Daichi with our family's sacred sword, the Kaito Enraiha, sister sword to the Kannagi family's Enraiha. "Since you are of age, we all feel that you are prepared to take the duty as head of the Uchiha family," Uncle Daichi said with no regret, "but the choice is yours."_

_I walked towards my uncle, grasped the sword in my right hand, and held it up high, emitting black flames around the sword. After a minute, I let the flames fade. _

"_I will accept my position as the head," I proudly said, putting the sword to my side, "but I wish to have my uncle take some of the responsibility as well since I don't feel that I am prepared yet to take full position by myself."_

_Everyone agreed and all bowed. Uncle Daichi also replied, "As you wish Karai. I will help you." _

_I nodded at him, "We will get those bastards for messing with the wrong family," I finished before walking out of the room to go prepare for the ceremony which both the Kannagi and Uchiha families attended._

**Flashback Ended**

"Father never did tell me the secret that he wanted to tell me...," I said sadly and sighed, "I guess I will never find out. Hopefully it wasn't that important."

I continued to look out the window, _'I wonder how Uncle Daichi is doing running the residence while I'm gone,' _I thought,_ 'It must be tiresome for him to run the compound while I get to do business outside the compound.'_

"Lady Karai."

I turned away from the window to look at Ichiru, "Yes, Ichi?"

"We will be arriving shortly. I also have received word from the house that the head of the Kannagis would like to speak with you after you are well-rested," he reported to me.

I looked at my watch that read 12:30 pm, "Very well, Ichiru; send word that we will be going there around 3 pm," I replied before looking up at him with an annoyed look, "and you know better than to call me Lady Karai, Ichiru."

"Of course Karai, just messing with you," he chuckled before going back to his own business as I did with mine.

I looked back in the direction of the window, _'Hmm, I wonder what Jugo needs me for?'_ I thought curiously, as the plane started to land.

~…~

I waited in a kneeled position for Jugo to come and sipped the tea I had received. Soon, I heard footsteps coming from my right.

"Master Jugo," a voice behind the one who made the footsteps said. I was able to see the shadow outlines of the two people from the wall. One of the figures was standing which I presumed was Jugo, while the other person kneeled. My eyes grew cold as I recognized the voice of the kneeled person.

"What is it Hyoue?" Jugo asked.

'_I knew it,'_ I thought while listening in to their conversation_, 'It is Hyoue Kazamaki of the Fuga Clan. Those bastards killed my parents and several family members. I mean, come on, they wanted to get revenge on both families for like hundreds of years now!'_

"The identity of the wind magic user who killed the young men from the branch line is still unknown. However, the entire Fuga clan will be mobilized for the search. We will find this killer for you. Please grant us just a little more time, sir," Hyoue informed him.

My eyes widened, _'Some of the members were killed? And it was by a wind magic user as well…' _I though before growling to myself, '_it was probably the Fuga clan. It totally made sense since they have been inferior to our clans, mostly the Kannagis.'_

"Of course; carry on then," Jugo replied before he started to leave, but then paused and turned back, "Hyoue, how has your son been recently? His name is Ryuya, right?"

'_Hmm, that is very suspicious….' _I thought cautiously.

"Yes sir; his condition requires much bed rest. Though he will survive, I fear he will not recover enough to serve your family, master," he answered.

"That should be the least of your concerns. Just let him recuperate, and tell him that I wish him well," he stated before he turned to leave to meet with me.

"Yes, many thanks, Jugo," Hyoue replied before pushing himself up and walking away in the other direction.

I closed my eyes, waiting for him to enter, _'That Jugo is too kind for those bastards.' _The door then slid open and closed.

"Lady Karai, I hope I haven't made you wait too long," Jugo said as he settled in his spot, "How was your trip to the north?"

"Please Jugo, you know to just call me Karai," I told him with a chuckle before answering his question, "The trip went well by the way. I just arrived this morning when I received the news that you needed to speak with me."

"Of course Karai; now, as you already heard from my conversation outside, some members of the Kannagi family were killed last night by a wind magic user-," he stated before I cut him off, "and you want me to help with this because of the incident with my clan a few years ago?"

"You always were smart," he mentioned with a slight chuckle, "and yes, I need your help. Before you start again, I know that you are thinking that it was the Fuga clan, but we can't just assume these things especially since they serve under my family. You can investigate all you want, just try not to get into worse terms than they already are with you," he warned.

I sighed, "Very well then… as head of the Uchiha family, I will respect your wishes, but don't expect me not to hurt them if I find that they did kill the members from each of our family, especially the previous head," I stated a bit coldly.

"As you wish then; if it is found out that they were responsible for the deaths of members from both families, you can do what you want with them," he said.

"I would appreciate that very much Jugo," I said with a serious tone, before I sipped some my tea and there was silence for a few minutes.

A question then came up in my mind, "By the way, where is that daughter of yours?" I asked curiously. _'I never really liked her… especially since she was the one who battled and defeated Kazuma in the successor ceremony.'_

"Oh, she got grounded for sneaking out last night with the two members who were killed last night when they were doing an investigation," he replied before standing up and facing the wall behind him with his hands on his back, "She claims to have seen who killed them."

I smirked, "That is just like her to do something like that. So, who does she think killed them?"

He turned around and looked at me, "Kazuma Kannagi." The door to the right of us slid open just as he said that.

I didn't see who came in as my face became filled with shock, "Ka-Kazuma? He's back?"

"Damn right he is!" I looked who said that and saw that it was Ayano who looked pissed off, "That bastard killed them! I saw him right in front of their bodies! He_ apparently_ now possesses wind magic which he used to murder them!"

She growled before continuing, "The next time I see that jerk, I'll burn him with my Enraiha!" she exclaimed as she materialized her family's sacred sword.

"And how do you know if he actually did it if you just saw him in front of them? That doesn't mean that he did it, he could have been framed for all we know. You shouldn't just assume things like that without thinking of other possibilities, Ayano," I said with a point.

'_At least I have good reasons to assume that the Fuga clan murdered our family members, this girl just has one way of thinking,' _I thought before realizing something, _'Wait a minute.. So Kazuma was able to possess some type of magic after all… I'm glad.'_

"That is right Ayano." We both looked at Jugo who said those words, "you should learn from Karai, seeing as she began to take her duty as head of her family not too long ago and at a young age."

"Ha! I am positive that that jerk did it and I will do something about it!" She declared before pointing at me, "and I will be a better head than you! Just you wait!"

I put on a smirk, "We'll see about that Ayano, but let me tell you this. I know more about Kazuma than you do, and he isn't the type of person to go off killing people without reason."

Ayano crossed her arms, "You're just saying that because he was your _boyfriend_! I know what I saw and I will prove it to you the next time I see him!" We were soon glaring at each other.

'_Why that little-!' _I thought as a stress mark appeared on my head.

"Ayano, you are still grounded so I am assuming you mean when you are not unless you want it to be longer," said her father before drinking some more of his tea.

A sweat drop appeared on her head, "Umm that's ok, I think I will go take a bath now. I'll see you later."

She bowed to Jugo, "Father," and then she bowed down to me with a face like she is forcing herself to do it, "Lady Karai."

I put on a forced smile and nodded my head, "Just call me Karai, Ayano." She nodded before leaving the room and sliding it closed, leaving me and Jugo alone in the room once again.

I turned my head back to Jugo, "So what are you going to do about Kazuma?" I asked curiously.

"Genma went off to go get him for questioning," Jugo said as he sat back down drinking a cup of tea. He noticed my worried eyes, "Don't worry, Genma and I both know Kazuma won't do something like that, but the members of my family think he did. Besides, with you on the case, we'll be able to figure out who is behind the killings."

"Yeah," I said drinking my cup of tea.

Once again, the door slid open. "Master Jugo," a Kannagi member said before noticing me, "Lady Karai!"

I nodded my head as he looked back to Jugo to report in, "Genma is in the hospital."

"I'm guessing Kazuma defeated him?" I said before going back to sipping my tea while in my head I was laughing hysterically at the thought of Kazuma beating Genma's ass.

"How is he doing?" Jugo said, looking at me like he knew that I was silently laughing, but didn't a word.

"He is doing fine. He just needs to rest in the hospital for a few days," said the family member.

"Very well then; tell him that I wish him well and that I'll have Kazuma taken care of," Jugo replied. The Kannagi member bowed to Jugo and me. He slid the door closed and left.

I stood up, "Well, it's already late. I better get going back home and see how things have been with Uncle Daichi in charge of the house. I'll see you tomorrow for details of the case."

"All right then Karai, I'll see you tomorrow. Tell your uncle I said hi," Jugo said. I immediately went to the door, slid it open and closed it. I put on my boots and left to go home in my car.

_**Jugo's Point of View**_

Karai closed the door. I could see her shadow as she put on her boots and watched as her shadow faded away.

I looked sadly at the door, _'Karai you've had many hardships in life. I wish that Daisuke and Hikari didn't die yet so we could have been able to talk things out easier. I will now have to tell you myself one of these days."_

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**Ayano shows up already and Kazuma will slightly appear in the next chapter if you're wondering where he is.**

**Review please? :3**


	3. Ambush during an Early Stroll

**Chapter 3: Ambush during an Early Stroll**

**Here's the next chapter! The re-edited version!**

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma except for her OC Karai Uchiha.**

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_**Karai's Point of View**_

During the middle of the night, it was hard for me to sleep after being told of Kazuma's return earlier today. I kept tossing and turning on my bed, unable to get him out of my mind.

I took off my arm that was covering my eyes and glanced at the clock. _'Only 1:00 in the morning,' _I muttered in my head. I went to bed around 11:00 and I still wasn't asleep.

Knowing that I wasn't going to sleep anytime soon, I threw the blanket off my body and changed into my training attire. This consisted of a red halter top, jean shorts and my regular boots and fingerless gloves.

I decided to go train in the meadow for the remainder of the time before I was supposed to head over to the Kannagi household later on.

After putting on the last of my gloves, I headed out my door and gently closed it behind me so that I wouldn't disturb anybody sleeping.

I silently walked through the quiet, moonlighted hallways and down the stairs as I texted Ichiru my whereabouts. I also mentioned to him that I was going back home in the evening after my meeting at the Kannagi house.

When I got to the clearing and stopped in front of the tree, my cell phone vibrated in the pocket of my pants. I grabbed the phone and opened it. It was a reply text message from Ichiru:

'_Ok… Tnx for the headup. nxt tiem wen uo go on a nght strol can yu mesage me wen the son is up nd I am not hlf-dead nd hve bad spelign when yu tex me?'_

I chuckle from his "impressive" spelling as I text back:

'_Haha, I'll think about it. =P Besides, you could have texted back when you become fully awake anyway.'_

I sent the message, closed my phone and put it back in my pocket.

I checked my watch. It was 1:30 in the morning. _'That gives me enough time for morning training. It has been 3 days since I last trained,' _I thought.

I materialized Kaito Enraiha to my hand and summoned flames on it. I got into a fighting stance and began to train.

_**Two Hours Later…**_

I panted and slowly breathed as I knelt on one knee while using Kaito Enraiha to support me. I felt refreshed after that workout. I got up and de-materialzed my sword from my hand.

I looked up at the sky to see that the sun wasn't up yet. _'Great… I might as well walk around the neighborhood for a bit and go straight to the Kannagi house around 10:00,' _I thought.

I went back to the household and to my room. I grabbed my towel and clothes before going to the bathroom to take a shower. Once I was done, I blow-dried my hair and put on my usual attire before I left my room again and headed for the kitchen where I ate a bowl of cereal. I finished my breakfast and left the house, remembering to bring my cell phone.

After I closed the gate, I walked around a few blocks, with my hands in my pockets, deep in thought of the case. _'I don't want to be jumping into conclusions, but it has got to be the Fuga clan who murdered the members. Both attacks were caused by a wind magic user. The whole Fuga clan consists of wind magic users. Not to mention, they want revenge for the diminishing of their once great power hundreds of years ago. Why wouldn't it be them?'_

I looked at the glistening half-moon up in the sky, admiring all of its glory. It was still all bright and shiny even though the sun will start to rise soon.

Suddenly, I was aware of something coming towards me. I quickly turned around and shot a stream of black fire. My fire deflected the dark purple wind that almost hit me.

Once the attacks dispersed, I saw this strange-looking guy with greenish skin standing a few yards away from me. I wasn't able to see who he was because he kept his face hidden, but his figure looked slightly familiar to me. I couldn't tell though.

It was a good thing that it was very early in the morning. There was nobody around to get hurt while this guy and I battled.

"Who the hell are you?" I coldly said to the guy as I materialized Kaito Enraiha in my hand and got into battle stance. The guy said nothing.

I was starting to get pissed, "Not talking, eh? Well, we'll see about that when I fire up your ass for attacking me out of nowhere!" I swung another stream of fire at him. He disappeared and tried to attack me from behind, but I held Kaito Enraiha to my back. Once again, I deflected his attack with my own and he disappeared on me.

We kept shooting and dodging our magic at each other while he also kept appearing and disappearing. This went on for like half an hour.

The wind magic user came into my view and headed straight for me. I summoned jets of fire onto my boots and flew up to dodge the guy from hitting me. As I went up, I twisted my body and landed facing in front of the mysterious guys back. _'Yes! A direct opening!' _I thought before holding my hand out and shooting out a huge blast of fire to his back. The attack hit him dead on, but he just flipped and disappeared… again.

'_You have got to be kidding me! Now what am I going to do!' _I yelled in my head. Before I could do anything, he reappeared… Right in front of me! He threw a punch with his wind-flaring hand directly onto my stomach before I could do anything.

A breath escaped my mouth as I flew across the street. When my daze broke off from the sudden impact, I flipped and landed on one knee. I dropped my sword which dematerialized once it hit the ground. I had one hand on my leg holding me up and the other hand holding my stomach that was in pain. I grunted from the soreness, not noticing another wind attack heading for me.

I realized the dark wind coming my way in the last minute, but I was unable to do anything because of my current pain. The only thing I could do was hold up my right arm to protect myself which didn't seem to work out too well.

The force of the attack made me land on my back and there was a stinging pain on my arm now. It felt like it was bleeding, but I dared not look at my arm as I closed my eyes. I passed out for a second before waking up a few seconds later again.

I heard his footsteps coming towards me. I kept my eyes closed, playing possum, so I can try to do a sneak attack on the guy. The footsteps stopped right in front of my feet.

At that moment, I put my plan into action. I opened my eyes, sat up quickly and put my hands on the floor. Ignoring the pain from my right arm, I swung my leg across both of his legs, knocking him off his feet. As he was about to hit the ground, I raised the leg I just swung and smacked his head with my foot, slamming him on the floor and knocking him out.

I stood up after both of my feet were on the ground, gently cradling my injured arm. I went in front of his feet and got a good look on the guy's face.

My eyes widened at the recognition of the familiar countenance of the man that was laying before me. I smirked, _'Finally, I have evidence that the perpetrators of the murders are the Fuga clan!'_

Before I could actually claim victory, his eyes opened. When they were locked onto mine, he disappeared and reappeared a few feet back, looking like I never knocked him out in the first place.

Another wind magic user appeared next to the one I was fighting. His face was hidden in a hood, leaving me to ponder who this new guy was. He gave a message to the other guy, "This candidate is taking too long to obtain and the ritual needs to be prepared in a matter of hours. We have to settle with the second one. He will be easier to attain. Let's go." He disappeared in a gust of wind.

The wind magic user I was fighting looked like he was prepared to leave as well.

"Hey, wait a minute! We're not done here!" I yelled at him before he disappeared completely.

Many questions popped in my head after that brief conversation between those two wind users, _'Hmm, what did that guy mean by a ritual? What kind is it? And why was I one of the candidates…?' _

I sighed, _'Now they are after an easier one… I wonder who it could be,' _I thought while I continued to ponder until something came to me, _'Unless… they need a fire magic user from either the Kannagi or Uchiha family for a sacrifice to Lord Gehou, that yoma the Fuga clan worshipped. The yoma is supposed to remain asleep after it was sealed by the Kannagi family when the Uchihas didn't exist yet. It all makes sense since the only ones who can break the seal are our families.'_

I growled and bitterly muttered to myself, "You won't get away with this… Ryuya Kazamaki," recalling the face of the son of Hyoue Kazamaki, the one who was said to be on bed rest, but apparently wasn't.

I clenched my fist, "I will get you… and your family for what you've done."

The pain from my injuries suddenly came back to me again as I started to sway a bit. _'Dammit, I won't be able to heal myself right now from my lack of energy due to that fight,' _I thought in pain. I ripped a piece of my coat to bandage the cut on my arm to temporary stop the bleeding for now. Good thing I have more of the same coats at home or else I wouldn't have done that.

'_There is no time to waste! I must go to the Kannagis now and tell them what I have learned! The ritual is probably today! Somebody is bound to be kidnapped!' _I thought before I looked at my surroundings to see where I was and realized that I was only two blocks away from the Kannagi house. That was a relief.

With the energy I had left and the pain I still had, I began walking to the Kannagi's place, unable to jet stream at the moment.

That 5-10 minute walk felt like hours to me with the pain that I was going through as I limped,_ 'Ichiru is going to kill me if he sees me like this… I think I'll let him know once this is all over with.'_

Finally, I saw the opened entrance of the Kannagi household. I noticed somebody watering the plants and recognized the person as Misao. I kept on going, trying to go as far until she saw me. I was aware that I wasn't going be able to give the news to them on time before I passed out from exhaustion, but letting her notice me was enough.

She finally noticed me. I sighed in relief and finally fell to the ground. I heard her rushing my way and felt her turn me around in her arms.

"Lady Karai! What happened? Who did this to you! Somebody help!" She yelled, although I couldn't really hear what she was saying because I was about to faint.

"Ry-Ryuya…. Ka…za…maki… of Fuga… clan… kid… napping…," I was able to blurt out before I blacking out.

_**Kazuma's Point of View**_

Morning was starting to approach, but it was still somewhat dark in the room I was staying at. I sat on a chair and watched silently as Ren slept on a bed. I smiled with a tinge of happiness. It was nice to see my brother once again, even though he can be annoying.

Karai suddenly appeared in my mind, _'I wonder how she is doing, especially since I left without saying goodbye to her,' _I thought sadly_, 'I hope we patch things up again.' _

I placed one of my hands on my forehead and looked down, _'who am I kidding… she probably hates me for leaving so suddenly. Either that or she is very upset that she couldn't stop what happened. '_

I sighed, _'At least I will be able to fulfill my side of our promise we made years ago.'_

I then clenched my fist on my other hand, _'I will never let her or anyone else become a sacrifice. __**Never again**__.' _

A picture of a brown haired girl with aqua eyes appeared in my mind, then went away as I sadly remembered her name, _'Tsui Ling.'_

I suddenly felt a presence and got prepared to get Ren and escape the building from the wind magic user's attack.

_**Karai's Point of View**_

I was now slightly conscious, but kept my eyes closed. I could hear voices in the room that I was in.

"I see… well, it was a good thing that you were there to help her. Thank you, Misao. I must go at once to have the Fuga house searched at once. Once Karai wakes up, tell her to meet me in the main room after she heals herself, which I know she will do." That voice sounded like Jugo.

"Yes sir, I will give her the message right away," and that voice sounded like Misao.

Just then, I heard rushed footsteps come into the room, "Sir! Kazuma Kannagi is at the main entrance right now! Some of the members are there already to take him down!"

"There was no need for that. All you needed to do was call me. Misao, you know what to do." That was the last thing he said before I could hear his footsteps fade away.

I continued to lie there, still trying to process what was going on. After a few minutes, I remembered, and jolted up a bit too quickly. I held my stomach as I cringed in pain. I opened my eyes and saw that I was in a simple medical room. Misao stood there, excited that I woke up.

"Lady Karai! You're finally awake! How are you feeling?"

"I'm doing great, besides all of the pain that I am in right now, as you can obviously see," I sarcastically said.

"Ok, that's good," she smiled.

"Oh and you don't need to tell me what Jugo said because I was sort of conscious when I heard what he told you."

"Really? Ok then. Do you need help with anything? I have other chores to do so I'll let someone take care of your injuries before meeting with Master Jugo," she asked with concern.

"No that's all right, I can do it myself; you can go do what you need to do. I'll be fine," I assured her.

"If you say so, milady," she bowed at me and headed for the door. Before she could leave, I stopped her for a moment, "Oh and Misao."

She turned around and looked at me, awaiting my answer.

I smiled at her, "Thank you for being there when I passed out. I am in your debt."

"Oh! It's no problem at all Karai! I just did whatever anyone else in the family would do. You're an important person of course. Besides, you would have done the same thing for me," she frantically said, "You don't need to owe me anything. It would be kind of awkward anyway since you are my idol."

"That is very touching, Misao. That will not change my mind though, so you have to deal with it," I said before I had a calm expression on my face, "By the way, I am sorry to hear that your brother had died a few nights ago. You must be very sad."

"Yes I am, but I have to be strong for him," She said with confidence.

"Misao, I'll stop the guy who killed your brother, so don't you worry," I said to her.

"Thank you… Karai," she smiled one last time at me before leaving the room. I was now by myself.

I checked my body to see the damage. I looked at my right arm and saw that it was bandaged. After that, I lifted my shirt to see my abdomen bandaged as well. I pulled my shirt down and inspected around my body to see that those were the only injuries.

I felt that with the energy I have right now, I can do some healing on my body, but not enough to fully take away all the wounds just yet.

I took my left hand and put it just above my right arm. A small black flame appeared in my hand as I moved it back and forth for like 10 minutes. I then took the same hand and placed it in front of my abdomen. I moved my hand in a circular motion for the same amount of time as I did with my arm.

After I took my hand away, I made the flame go away as I panted a little from the use of my energy. I removed the bandages from my arm and stomach and examined them. My stomach was still a little bruised and my arm still had a small scar. The pain subsided a little too.

I sighed, "It's probably going to take about half an hour before I get back to full energy." I stood up, swaying a bit from putting pressure on my legs a little to fast. I walked around the room a bit to make sure that I was all right. When I stopped and bended my body, my abdomen started hurting again from the pressure, but not as bad as before.

After feeling assured that I was all right, I left the room to go meet up with Jugo, not remembering that he is probably with Kazuma.

* * *

**There we go! Chapter 3 is complete! Read and Review! **


	4. One Surprise after Another

**Chapter 4: One Surprise after Another**

**Chapter 4 up! This is the re-edited version!**

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma except for her OC character, Karai Uchiha. (I almost typed Sasuke Uchiha xD that was close!)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

**_Karai's Point of View_  
**

As I was heading towards the room where I usually had a meeting with Jugo, I had a feeling that I was forgetting something.

I pondered and pondered, but nothing came across my mind. That was… until I stopped in front of the small steps where the entrance to the room was. Arguing could be heard.

"But father, it doesn't make any sense. They served our family for generations now, if you ask me, it's this guy that we can't trust, not them." That voice I definitely knew was Ayano.

I then heard _his _voice.

"If you ask me, you're a stubborn spoiled brat─,"

My eyes widened. That voice. It was Kazuma. My best friend since we were kids. The one who always needed me there to help him and disappeared the day he was banished. And also… the one I am in love with.

"I am not!" Ayano yelled at back at Kazuma.

"Once you've made up your mind about something you won't change it even if all the evidence proves you wrong," I heard him say. I chuckled at this because it is true. I sighed afterwards because a head shouldn't have that kind of attitude while judging a situation.

"If it was Kazuma, why would he not have killed you already?" Jugo asked Ayano.

"Well-well because…," She paused, figuring out what to say, until she found one, "Because he knows there is no defeating Enraiha─," she was then cut off by her father, "Don't be so arrogant. Your cousin Genma, our strongest fire magic user, proved to be no match against him in a fight."

Ayano sounded perplexed by what she heard, "He-he lost?"

I finished taking off my boots as they continued their conversation. I leaned on the pillar and waited outside the door for the right moment to enter.

"Ayano," I heard Jugo say, "Kazuma could do the same to you, his powers are far greater. Accept it. You are not even close to Karai's level yet."

I grinned because I knew that Ayano was frowning. I wished that I could have seen the face of Kazuma when Jugo said that though.

"Of course; Karai has always been strong. This one can't possibly be able to reach her level for a while," I heard him say. This made me smile.

Ayano groaned, "Don't remind me… It's bad enough knowing that she became head of the Uchiha clan earlier than expected." That sentence made me groan as well because she just spilled the beans of my title to Kazuma.

"Really?" I heard a surprised Kazuma say, "Since when?"

"You can ask her yourself in another time. It would be best if she told you herself. She'll be arriving soon. We should get back on topic," Jugo said.

I sighed in relief since he didn't tell them of my current situation and tell Kazuma about the ambush just yet. _'Thank goodness,' _I thought, _'No need to get them worried… well I don't know about Ayano. Kazuma would freak, though, if he were to find out.'_

"The Fuga clan used Kazuma as a scapegoat to divert our attention away from the real murderer," Jugo said.

"Yes. They've always been smart, but why would they want to kidnap Ren?" Kazuma questioned.

My eyes widened, _'What? It was Ren that they took as a candidate?' _I thought.

"Why? Because he is part of the head family," Jugo answered, "It makes sense since they've tried to kidnap Karai as well." I lightly face palmed my forehead for thinking that he wouldn't tell them at all.

"What?" Kazuma said with a shocked voice.

"How would you know that?" Ayano asked curiously.

"She arrived here earlier this morning in a terrible state. She was put into the medical room to rest until she awakened," Jugo said, "but it looks like she already has."

'_Dammit… I'm busted… guess that's my cue,'_ I slid the door open and saw every face in the room look at me. Jugo had a calm face as always, Ayano once again had a scowled face whenever she saw me, and then there was Kazuma… who had a shocked face filled with worry.

When Kazuma and I actually made eye contact, it felt like we were staring at each other for a long time when it actually was only a few seconds. I wanted to tackle and hug him to death and never let him out of my sight again. I kept myself from doing such a thing because I was, after all, the head of the Uchiha clan. He certainly looked like a different person now.

Kazuma and I smiled at one another. I then decided to say something, "It's good to see you again… Kazuma."

"You too… Karai," he said as we just kept looking at each other.

Jugo interrupted us, "Karai, how are you feeling? You must still be exhausted after what happened," he asked concerned as he and Ayano nodded their heads at me in respect after Kazuma and I greeted each other.

I smiled at him and nodded back, "I was able to heal myself, but not fully yet. I'm doing much better though." I began to go sit next to Kazuma, but some of my abdominal pain came back. I held my stomach for a bit as I winced, "Maybe not as much as I thought."

Everyone looked at me to see if I was all right. Once I was ok again, I let go of my abdomen and sat on the right of Kazuma.

I couldn't help but to admire the transformed Kazuma next to me. _'He really did change a lot,' _I thought before coming back to reality. "How long did you know I was out there?" I asked curiously.

"Longer than you think," he chuckled, before having his serious face again, "Now, can you tell us what happened to you?"

"You want a detailed or shortened story?" I asked.

"Detailed, if you please," Jugo asked.

"Well, I was taking a very early stroll around the neighborhood after I finished training. Then out of nowhere this weird-looking guy attacks me. We just kept dodging and throwing magic at each other. I was able to hold my own, but he eventually injured me twice during the battle."

I lifted my shirt enough to show them the almost disappearing bruise, "He appeared in front of me and punched me so hard that I flew back, but I was able to land safely." I saw Kazuma's face and it was angry.

I put down my shirt and then showed them my arm, "I had to use my arm to protect myself from another attack when I landed. I was knocked off my feet and onto my back. I passed out for a second afterwards," I chuckled, "I then gave him a sneak attack myself that knocked him out. I got a real good look who he was at the moment… it was─," "Ryuya Kazamaki," I saw that it was Kazuma who cut me off and he looked beyond pissed.

"Correct. Once he woke up, he disappeared and reappeared a few feet away from me. We were going to go at it again when another wind magic user appeared next to him," My face became more serious, "He told him that I was taking too long to capture so they were going to go get another candidate. They disappeared before I could do anything more. It was a struggle, but I was able to get myself to this place just in time. I made sure Misao saw me before I went down. I woke up in the medical ward and here I am now," I finished.

"That must have been a terrible experience for you to have. At least you were able to defend yourself," Jugo said.

"I've had worse, believe me," I said with a sad expression, while taking a glance at Kazuma who looked back at me as well.

I looked at Jugo once again, "So it was Ren who they kidnapped…"

He sighed, "Yes, it was. So now you know the truth then, that the Fuga clan was responsible all along."

"Yup, now I get to kick their asses until they can't even sit no more," I said, smirking.

Ayano spoke up, "Wait a minute… Why would they want to kidnap you in the first place?" Ayano questioned, "You're not even a Kannagi."

"You weren't really taught about the Uchiha family in depth, but considering the situation and the fact that you are both part of the head family, you should know the history between the Kannagis and Uchihas." Jugo said to Kazuma and Ayano and then looked at me, "You don't mind at all, do you, Karai?"

"Of course not. It is part of their history anyway," I told him.

Kazuma and Ayano looked at Jugo with curiosity as he spoke, "Well, the truth is, the Uchihas were once part of the Kannagi family as well. There were a few members that thought it dishonorable to have our enemies as servants, specifically, the Fugas. They decided to break away from the Kannagi family a few generations ago and change their name."

Jugo paused for a minute before continuing, "Ironically, those members were the ones who possessed or were capable of possessing the black flame. All black fire magic users have common characteristics which you can notice yourself: black or dark-colored hair and pride. They are really Kannagis and Karai is part of the head family and is the head herself, making her an acceptable candidate, but they settled with Ren since they were able to get him first."

Ayano was confused with the whole situation and smacked her hands on the ground and said, "Wait, kidnapping? Revenge? I don't understand what you are talking about."

"You are too young to know the Fuga's history," Jugo said to Ayano, "the Fuga's were not always the servants of the Kannagi family; they were once a powerful and influential organization. Three hundred years ago, when the Uchiha family didn't exist yet, the Fuga's and Kannagi's fought in a bloody war. The Kannagis won only because they were able to seal away and trap the Fuga's source of power, a powerful and bloodthirsty _yoma_ whom they worshipped," he explains, "His name was─," I cut him off before he could say it, "Lord Gehou."

He looks at me in agreement before glancing back at all three of us, "That is correct. It was sealed with a particular type of crystal imbued with powerful magic, Sanmai Shinka, a rare elemental fire crystal. Anyone who touches it will be burnt beyond recognition, but any immediate members of the Kannagi head family can be able to without their bodies burning. If any one of the members is manipulated by the Fugas, they can break the seal and free the trapped _yoma_."

Realization came to Kazuma and I, "No it can't be," Kazuma said quietly.

"Ren is going to be a sacrifice for their revived yoma," I said with eyes widened.

I looked at Kazuma's face and noticed anger like he had experienced this before and also because it was his brother being sacrificed. _'I wonder what he is thinking'_ I thought curiously as I saw his hands clench up.

"If that does happen, then the freed _yoma _would then take residence with the clan's chosen host. In this way, its powers can be extended to every clan member, making them most formidable indeed," Jugo finished, "We now know that the host they have chosen is Ryuya Kazamaki."

"Father, what will then happen to Ren?" Ayano asked worriedly.

"After he breaks the seal, the _yoma _will then devour him completely to every fragment of his soul as revenge, since it will know that he is descended from the ones that imprisoned it. The Fuga clan means to sacrifice Ren."

"All right, I have heard enough," Ayano said as she stood up, "We have to go find him, no matter what, and we can never forgive the Fuga clan for what they've done. All we've ever tried to do here was help them. You'd think they'd be thankful, instead they do this. It is totally unjustified."

"Unjustified, huh?" Kazuma asked her, "Are you sure about that?"

I sighed, _'Ayano doesn't know what she is talking about. Kazuma is right.'_

"Of course I am, and you're not?" she retorted back.

"Ayano," I said to get her attention. She looked at me with anger all over her face before I continued, "what have the Kannagis exactly done for the Fugas? Except ask them for service. They basically were diminished as slaves."

"No way, as slaves? We've never thought of the Fuga clan like that!" she said surely.

"But you didn't look at them as equals either, did you? I mean, come on, the Kannagi family broke a once powerful people who didn't use fire magic. The magic they did practice which you consider inferior and you let the Fugas know this every day. Not too different from my situation now is it? Of course, I only had to put up with it for a few years. The Fuga clan has been doing it for three hundred. That is a long time to hold a grudge and now they want revenge. It seems they won't rest until every single member of the Kannagi family is dead," Kazuma stated before looking at me, "and also the Uchiha family."

He closed his eyes for a bit and then opened them, "And guess what? I don't blame them; I blame the Kannagi family for pushing them to this point. I don't blame the Uchihas though since they never took part in keeping them as servants."

"The Uchiha clan is a family of prideful people. Of course we would never ask people who we consider enemies to stoop that low. We always do things on our own or between our sister family now," I said to back up his claim.

"You're absolutely correct Kazuma. As head of the family, I tried to rectify the disparities that existed for so long," he paused for a moment, "Sadly, it was not meant to be."

"Yeah, now thanks to this family, they are going to take Ren's life," Kazuma said. Ayano looked at Kazuma for a second before turning back to her father.

"Father, please, where is the Fuga clan now? Just tell me and I'll go rescue him," Ayano pleaded.

"Ayano, you are not strong enough─," he was cut off by Ayano, "I can't sit here and do nothing! I won't let this happen! Ren's a kid! He wasn't put on this earth to be eaten by some _yoma_!"

I noticed that Kazuma flinched when Ayano said that last sentence. I was a little concerned. Maybe he did know somebody that was sacrificed as well with the way he was behaving.

I decided to let it go for now since we have more important things to deal with right now.

"Give me the location of the seal. I'm going now," Ayano demanded.

"Hold up; if you go up there, you won't make it very far," Kazuma stated, "Not with Ryuya on their side. What you need is back up," he replied before standing up, "And I don't mind providing it."

"Kazuma," Jugo said.

"He'll use all his powers to whip the spirits of the wind into a frenzy and when he does I won't be able to control them. See, wind magic isn't enough, but fire magic," he said, looking at Ayano, "That is a different story. Ryuya could be destroyed by Enraiha."

Ayano gave in, "All right, fine. Do you think that there is any chance it'll work?"

"Maybe… I guess," Kazuma said.

"Excuse me? Really? I guess Kazuma?" She yelled at him.

"I never fought against a guy like him, all right? For all I know, he could kill the both of us," Kazuma finished.

"Really? Then I'd better go and find a new partner─," she started to say before getting cut off by her father, "No you won't," he said, standing up.

"Kazuma's going with you, along with Karai," Jugo said as I stood up myself.

"But why, father? And why does she need to come as well! I already can't stand this jerk!" Ayano protested.

"Jugo told me if we ever found out that the murders were the Fuga clan, I would be able to take care of them personally," I said to Ayano, "So I am coming with you."

I put up my hands, "Besides, I am far stronger than you," Kaito Enraiha appeared in my hand, "And I possess this. Isn't two magic users better than one? Or should I say three since we have Kazuma?"

"B-but you're injured! You're just going to slow us down!" Ayano yelled, trying to get an excuse for me not to go.

I felt my body at full energy already which was good. To prove her wrong, I put away Kaito Enraiha and put my hands on my abdomen, then my arm. Small black flames emitted from them. Once they faded I took them away, "Ok I'm ready to go!" I stretched my body and felt no more pain. A slight scar is still visible on the arm, but the bruise on my abdomen disappeared.

"What? Why didn't you do that earlier then?" Ayano yelled once again.

I insulted her, "I needed to rest my energy first baka."

"Why you─!" Ayano exclaimed, getting pumped to fight me.

Kazuma ignored Ayano talking and looked back at Jugo, "Great, so what will you pay me?" Ayano and Jugo look confused. I understood why.

"Sure I said I'll go help rescue Ren, but I never said I'd do it for free─," he said before getting cut off by Ayano, "You're family is in trouble, and you're asking for money!"

"But you're not my family, not anymore. Just for the record, my last name is Yagami now," he stated.

"How could you!" Ayano said, feeling betrayed.

"Very well, just name your price," Jugo said before he looked at me, "It is the Kannagi family's fault that you were injured so we'll pay for the injuries you've gotten."

"Are you kidding?" Ayano yelled in disbelief.

"There's no need for that Jugo, but if you insist then you do what you want," I said to Jugo before I turned towards Kazuma, "And whatever Jugo is paying you, I'll pay half of that since I'm going to need your help as well."

"If that is what you want Karai," Jugo said, "Kazuma step outside please. I need to talk to Karai and Ayano, alone. They will meet up with you when they are done," Kazuma shrugged and left the room.

Ayano and I sat down on our knees before him.

"Father, I understand why we are paying Karai for her injures, but that guy is a jerk, how can we pay him to save his own brother? How can he talk about money when Ren's life is at stake?"

"Ayano, you're misunderstanding his situation," I said, causing her to look at me, "Helping Ren means helping the Kannagis and Kazuma has made his feelings clear about that, but he can't just let his brother die," I said, with arms crossed.

"So," Ayano said, looking back at her father, "if we pay him, he can save Ren and still preserve his honor."

"I see now, but I still don't trust him father, not at all," Ayano said, doubting Kazuma.

"You're going to have to, as well as trusting Karai," Jugo stated.

Ayano and I glared at each other when he said that before he continued, "All of you must work together, if not, our enemy will have already defeated us, and Ren will be lost forever."

Jugo then closed his eyes and sighed, "Ayano, Karai… there is something that I need to tell you which I hope will help you two get along with each other."

~…~

After the conversation with Jugo, Ayano and I got up, bowed at Jugo and then left the room and went outside to where Kazuma was waiting for us in front of the entrance_. _

'_One surprise after another,'_ I thought bitterly as we reached Kazuma, _'First Kazuma shows up which is a good thing, but what Jugo told us… of all the times he could tell us such information, it had to be now_.' I calmed down, trying not to make such a fuss about it.

After we got to him, we started going towards the car. Ayano went ahead while Kazuma and I were catching up behind her, "We'll talk after all this, okay?" I told him without meeting his eyes.

"Of course," Kazuma said before we all got in the car with him driving. Kazuma drove off as we went to go save Ren.

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**Hope you enjoyed the chapter! It was just all right for me. Tell me what you think. **

**What do you think Jugo told Ayano and Karai? Well I am not telling so you are just going to have to wait for the next chapter so watch out for it in the next two weeks! xP**

**Thank you CMR Rose for reviewing last chapter =) Glad you liked it!**

**Read and Review please! **


	5. A Reason to Trust One Another

**Chapter 5: A Reason to Trust One Another**

**Chapter 5 up! This is the re-edited version!**

**Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist doesn't own Kaze no Stigma except for her OC, Karai Uchiha.**

* * *

_**Karai's Point of View**_

Kazuma was in the driver's seat, Ayano was in the passenger seat, and I was in the back. How I ended up in the back? Ayano, still upset as I was, went ahead and just hopped into whatever seat, leaving me to stay in the back, but I didn't care at the moment.

Tension filled the car between me and Ayano as we were headed to the location where Ren was to be sacrificed. Ayano had no problem, though, yelling at Kazuma for driving like a maniac.

I didn't really pay attention to them. I just looked out the window, watching the scenery and thinking over what Jugo told us.

**Flashback**

"_Karai, your parents were supposed to tell you this sometime during your life, but then they died three years ago," Jugo said, "Therefore, I must tell you myself."_

"_Yes, I recall that father was going to tell me something on the night of Kazuma's banishment, but then he decided not to tell me yet," I remembered sadly._

_Jugo opened his eyes, "Karai, I know this may be hard to believe, but I am your real father." Ayano and I just looked at him dumbfounded._

'_**What the hell?' **__We both thought._

_Ayano and I were shocked by the news, but Ayano was the first to burst, "Wait, is this some kind of joke? Me? And her? Sisters? Are you serious?" Ayano yelled frantically._

"_I'm with her on this one. Why has this been kept from us for so long, __**father**__?" I said coldly._

"_I felt that now was the right time to tell you, but now's not the time to explain. You should go now and rescue Ren. I will explain everything once you are done with your task. I thought I should tell you now to give you a reason to trust one another, besides the fact that you are both related through the connection of both the Kannagi and Uchiha clans. I also decided to tell you since you've never really liked each other before," Jugo said, trying to make sense with why he gave us the information out of nowhere._

_We didn't say a word since we knew that we had to go save Ren right now and also because we were still shocked with the news. We got up, bowed before Jugo, left the room and went outside to where Kazuma was waiting for us. _

'_**One surprise after another,'**__ I thought bitterly._

**Flashback Ended**

'_Che, he shouldn't have mentioned this right now, I'm losing focus. We need to rescue Ren!' _I thought before closing my eyes, replaying that scene over and over again.

I sighed, calming down, _'He always did act like a father to me…. I wonder what happened between mother and him… and father.'_

I slightly opened my eyes for a bit and stared at Ayano who was getting pissed off at Kazuma, _'Hmm, so she is my sister, I mean, half-sister.'_

I shook my head in disbelief, 'W_ell, as head of the Uchiha family, I cannot act foolish. It is my duty to take vengeance against the murders of the previous head and members of my clan. I have no choice. I have to get along with Ayano. At least I know that I won't have any problems cooperating with Kazuma.' _

I finally listened in to their conversation, "Anger is a powerful tool for creating energy in fire magic. With that temper of yours, I can tell that you got a lot of energy," Kazuma stated.

"So, is that a compliment or an insult?" Ayano asked curiously.

"A little of both; without self-control, anger can be a liability. I just need to know that you can keep yours in check," he said coolly._ 'My thoughts exactly,' _I said in my head with a small smirk.

"Uh, hey, look Kazuma, don't worry. I've got plenty of self-control," she assured him with a stress mark about to appear on her head.

"We'll have a problem if you don't," he told her before moving his gaze into the mirror to look at me quickly, "You too Karai."

I rolled my eyes at him, "Please Kazuma, you know I have self-control. I had more training than this hothead right in front of me. I don't believe she has any self-control," I replied, still looking at the window.

Ayano turned her head to yell at me, "Why you─!" I cut her off before she could finish her complaint, "So I better hope she proves me wrong," I said, looking at her with a small smile.

Her face calmed down as looked at me with determination, "Of course I will, you better believe that!"

Kazuma chuckled with the way we were communicating with each other, but then became serious again, "Ok, let's go over the plan one more time shall we?"

"All right; Karai and I will launch a frontal attack on Ryuya, while you sneak up and attack him from behind. That's how it's supposed to work, but to tell you the truth, I'm not too happy about it." Ayano said gloomily.

"Why," asked Kazuma while he continued to drive.

"Well, what if I just mess things up?" Ayano said sadly.

"You won't, I'm sure you'll do fine. I'm counting on you," Kazuma said encouragingly, "Both of you."

I smiled when he said that before encouraging Ayano as well, "Besides, Ayano, I'll be there with you so there is nothing to worry about. If you do mess up, I'll help you out," I reassured her, "Where is that confident, impulsive Ayano that I know?"

"Heh, thanks for trying to make me feel better, _Onee-chan." _She said, appreciating my words.

Kazuma noticed what she said and became confused, "Wait, what?"

I looked at Kazuma, "Yeah, we found out that we are actually half-sisters. Jugo will explain things once we are done with this mission, though. So don't worry about that now." The car then became silent again.

Ayano said out of nowhere, "That's weird."

"What do you mean?" Kazuma asked her.

"Hearing you say something like that. I only expected Karai to say something encouraging. Guess I'm kind of surprised. Maybe you're not as arrogant as I used to think you were," Ayano said, stating her thoughts.

"He never really was arrogant when he was around me when we were younger. He was a softie," I mentioned as I reminisced the good old days with a cheeky smile, "Although… he did complain a lot when he was with me," I frowned.

Ayano suddenly had a cheeky smile as well, "Oh really? A _softie,_ huh?"

"Yup," I chuckled while Ayano snickered.

"Thanks a lot. By the way, it was your own fault that I complained anyway," he said.

"Just keep telling yourself that Kazuma," I said with a grin.

He sighed before going serious, "All right, let's get our heads in the game. We've got to rescue Ren."

'_I'll never let him, or anyone else be a sacrifice,' _he thought confidently.

'_I never saw him look that serious before,' _Ayano thought curiously.

'_He's very different now. More confident, determined, strong,' _I thought before smiling a bit, '_...and even arrogant too.'_

"What's up? It's not like you to get quiet," he said, taking a glance at Ayano.

"Um, nothing, honestly," Ayano protested. I chuckled when she became flustered.

I suddenly felt a presence which I'm sure Kazuma felt as well, since he blew away Ayano's door with his magic. I blasted my own door open as well.

"Why couldn't you just tell me to roll down the win─," she started to say before he suddenly scooped her up, "Karai let's go!" He shouted at me. I nodded my head.

Kazuma then jumped out of the still-running car and started rolling down the hill with Ayano. I jumped out of the car afterwards before the car was attacked by wind magic and blew up.

I felt Ryuya's presence and quickly turned around, shooting jet streams on the bottom of my boots to hover me.

I saw Ryuya up in the air and shot several flames at him as I soared down the hill backwards. He deflected them and shot out some dark wind at me. I summoned more flames on my boots to make me go up higher, dodging his attack. I then back flipped to where Ayano and Kazuma were.

Ayano stared at me dumbfounded, "How did you do that?"

I looked at her, "You mean the jet streams on my boots? I learned how to do it myself. I'll teach you some other time."

"You all right Karai?" Kazuma asked me.

"I'm fine," I assured him before turning to look where Ryuya was, "Now let's get this guy!" I yelled, ready to fight the bastard.

"All right then," Kazuma said as he got up and looked at Ryuya, "Good to see you again, Ryuya. Now where'd you take my brother? I hear you want to sacrifice him," he said with a serious face as he clenches his fist, "All right you freak, it's time to end this!"

Ryuya slowly went down to the ground across from us.

"It's him, Ryuya. Why didn't I sense his presence?" Ayano said, puzzled.

"I guess you aren't strong enough to sense any kind of magic user," I said.

"Oh and you sensed it?" Ayano exclaimed, getting angry.

"Yes I did," I answered while looking at the disgusting figure in front of us.

"He is a wind magic user. If he doesn't want to be found, a fire user like you doesn't stand a chance," Kazuma said to Ayano before looking at me, "Although I'm not sure how you were able to do it."

I looked at him, "The Uchiha clan has always depended on themselves and over time we were able to sense presences on our own while the Kannagis used the Fuga clan to do it for them," I explained to him, "Now enough chit chat!"

I stepped forward and swung my right arm to my side, stretched out. Kaito Enraiha appeared in my hand, black flames emitting from the sacred sword before I got into fighting stance, "Come on Ayano, let's get this bastard and make him pay for what he has done!"

"Get right in his face and fight him close, attacks from a distance won't work," Kazuma advised.

"Why don't you worry about yourself," Ayano said as she summoned her own sword, "Enraiha, come forth!" Enraiha materialized on her hand, "Let's do this."

Ayano charged at Ryuya head on. Fireballs were going his way as Ayano swung her sword. He deflected them with his wind.

"There has never been a _yoma_ that Enraiha hasn't destroyed! Haaa!" Ayano jumped at him and swung her sword directly down at him, but he blocked it with his wind on one hand.

I allowed Ayano to fight Ryuya for now as I waited for him to let his guard down so I can attack him. _'She's doing pretty well right now. I wonder how long she can keep this up.'_

Ryuya tried to punch Ayano with his other hand, but she blocked him. She got pushed back a little from the force and Ryuya disappeared in the smoke. Ayano looked around for him. I saw him appear behind her, "Ayano watch out! He's behind you!"

She noticed that he was about to claw her and suddenly blocked it once more, with the dark wind pushing her down. I finally saw his back unguarded. Perfect. I ran straight for him, noticing that Kazuma was leaving.

"I could use a little back up right now! Kazuma!" She screamed as she noticed him gone and looked around for him, "Kazuma?" She didn't notice me coming to help her though.

"Haaaa!" I screamed, going towards Ryuya. I swung my sword, letting out a stream of fire onto his back which he didn't deflect in time. He flew back a few feet and landed on the ground, appearing to have lost consciousness temporarily. _'Yes! Got him!' _ I thought in relief for now.

I saw Kazuma in the air and Ayano yelling at him. "Since you've got everything under control, I'm going on ahead," he said before he looked at me, "Take care of him, all right?"

I nodded at him, "Of course," I said, looking back at Ryuya on the floor and swinging my sword to my side, "With pleasure," I said sinisterly. _'You are going to pay for what you've done, Ryuya Kazamaki!'_

"Ok then, be careful Karai. Oh and also watch out for Ayano!" He said after flying off.

As Ayano continued yelling at him for being a traitor, I cautiously walked to where Ryuya was, waiting for him to wake up at any minute.

Checking to see if he was already conscious, I held out my hand, summoning fire. Just when I thought it was powerful enough, I shot it at him and saw him disappear in a gust of wind, my attack missing him completely. I growled, _'So he was awake… better keep my guard up.'_

"Ayano focus! He can appear at any moment!" I yelled at her to pay attention.

"Right!" She yelled back at me after finishing her rant on Kazuma. She went back into battle stance. We looked around, keeping our guard up.

I suddenly felt his presence to my right and I swung my sword at him. He deflected it with his wind again. We were both pushed back into opposite directions. When he landed, I saw him disappear again.

Ayano and I kept up the fight with him, mostly me, since she wasn't able to sense his presence that well.

"Ayano, get ready! We have to work together on this one! I'm going to attack him once I see him, and when I do, you attack from behind him!" I yelled at her. She got prepared while waiting for me to make my move.

I put away Kaito Enraiha for a moment and held my hand out. Black flames surrounded it as I waited for Ryuya to appear. When I saw him, I ran at him and swung my hand, releasing a stream of fire coming at him, with Ayano charging at him. He managed to disappear at the last minute, not before his right arm was burnt from my flame and Ayano slicing it a bit, _'Yes, hopefully that will slow him down for now.'_

"Good job Ayano," I praised her, "That's probably not going to work again, so let's continue our first method. Hopefully he slowed down a bit from his wound."

"Don't worry! I can slice him deeply with Enraiha this time!" Ayano exclaimed, watching out for Ryuya to pop out.

"Don't be too overconfident Ayano!" I yelled as I summoned Kaito Enraiha again and we kept fighting him. He apparently didn't slow down at all from that wound which didn't look good for us. The battle continued as Ayano and I kept on trying to attack him.

Once again, I deflected Ryuya's attack, pushing me back again. I fell on one knee as I kept my guard up, panting, _'Damn it! It's just like the last time I fought him! We can't touch him, and that wound was like nothing to him! We're just deflecting each other's attack again and again! We are just tiring ourselves out!' _I thought in frustration.

Ayano ran in front of me, "Karai, are you ok!" she asked concerned.

"Yes I am, don't worry about me right now, just worry about yourself. We need to come up with a new plan before we tire ourselves out to our full extent," I told her as I kept panting with my eyes closed. I suddenly feel Ryuya's presence. I opened my eyes to see him behind Ayano who is still in front of me, not noticing him.

Before I could tell her to watch out, he smacked her on the right side of her head and she flew in that direction. She ungracefully hit the ground and lied still as she got knocked out.

Anger swelled up inside me, "You bastard!"

I got up and tried to hit him with Kaito Enraiha. He jumped back before I could get him.

I stood in a battle stance, waiting to see what he was going to do next. I glanced to my side where Ayano was unconscious a little far from where I was. I quickly looked back at Ryuya.

He put his hand up, absorbing dark wind magic in his hand. When he was done, he shot it not in my direction, but at Ayano's! _'Damn it!'_

I ran in the direction where Ayano's body was and took the hit, unable to dodge it in time. I flew back sideways into a tree and landed on my stomach. I dropped Kaito Enraiha on the ground when I hit the floor and it disappeared.

There were bruises all over my body from the attack and my back was killing me. I was also having this terrible pain in my body that became worse and worse. Like something was spreading into my whole system. I felt like I was slowly dying.

I tried getting up, but it was no use. My vision started to become blurry. I glanced where Ryuya was and see him flying off in Kazuma's direction. Ayano was still unconscious where she was.

"At least Ayano is ok,"I said before sighing_, 'I wasn't able to defeat him again,' _I thought as my eyes slowly began to close; too weak to move my body.

"Hurry up Kazuma," I was able to mutter, before blacking out.

* * *

**Now you know that Karai and Ayano are actually half-sisters x) It looks like they are starting to get along now because of the sudden news. **

**There you go! Chapter 5! **

**Read and **_**Review **_**please!**


	6. The Divine Flames of Crimson and Purple

**Chapter 6****: The Divine Flames of Crimson and Purple**

**Chapter 6 is finally up! X) This is the re-edited version! **

**So about Karai and Ayano being sisters… unexpected huh? xD Yeah I thought it would be a nice twist to put. Other than that, hope you enjoy the story as always!**

**Disclaimer: DarkFlame Achemist does not own Kaze no Stigma.**

* * *

_**Everyone's Point of View**_

Ayano started to wake up, "Ouch, my head… what happened," she said, half-dazed from the impact of Ryuya smacking her as she rubbed her head.

She felt a breeze and started to get up when she heard somebody landing.

"Ayano!" a familiar voice exclaimed. She looked and saw that it was Ren who spoke; he was coming towards her as Kazuma followed.

Ren ran to Ayano and hugged her, "Ayano! I'm so glad you're all right!"

"Where's Karai?" Kazuma asked as he looked around, starting to get worried.

Ayano suddenly remembered what happened and panicked, "Oh my god! I don't know! I got hit in the head by Ryuya and got knocked out!" She started to look around for Karai like crazy.

"Karai's here? And missing? Oh no! Where could she be!" yelled Ren as he started looking around too and then noticed her unconscious by a tree. He pointed where she was, "Brother! She's over there by the tree!"

Kazuma looked where Ren directed him and his eyes widened to where the knocked out Karai was. _'Oh no, please no!' _he thought as he started running towards her. He rolled her on her back and held her in his arms.

"Brother, is she okay?" Ren said nervously as he and Ayano got there.

"I'd say, no," he said, glaring at the bruise that was spreading on her neck, "Her wound isn't that bad, but she is infected with his aura, " he growled before continuing, "And his spirit is eating her from the inside out."

He gently laid her down, "It's just a matter of time before it takes over her entire body."

"This is bad," said Ren worriedly.

"Oh no!" Ayano frantically said, feeling guilty for getting Karai into the state that she was in, "This is all my fault for letting my guard down."

Kazuma stood up and pointed at Ayano in accusation, "How come you lost that fight? What was it you said earlier today? If I remember correctly, you said that there wasn't a yoma that Enraiha can't take down."

He then put his face a little closer to hers, but far enough, "What? You couldn't burn him after you stabbed him with your precious fire blade," he told her before pointing at Karai while still looking at Ayano, "And you lost your guard too, causing Karai to get injured."

Ayano looked down, ashamed, "Please, just help her right now."

"There must be some way we can help her, right?" Ren said with hope.

"Yeah, I got something here that might work," Kazuma said as he backed away from Ayano, "I really don't want to waste it, but she is my best friend so I'll make an exception."

Ren and Ayano looked at Kazuma, "What do you mean waste?" Ren asked.

He took a small vial with liquid inside, "This stuff is valuable and hard to come by, but I'll give it to her. Although… if it was Ayano in this situation, I'd hate to use it on her."

A stress mark appeared on her head, "What was that you jerk? Are you saying you'd choose that bottle of medicine over my life!"

"Maybe…," Kazuma said cheekily.

Ayano growled, "Baka! Just give her the medicine already before it's too late!" she said after crossing her arms and looking away from him.

He kneeled down, held Karai in his arms again and placed the tip of the vial close to her mouth. He pulled it back before the liquid could go in her mouth, "Hmm, this isn't going to work." He brought the bottle to the opening of his mouth and deposited the liquid in without swallowing it before putting his mouth on Karai's and pushing the liquid in.

Ren and Ayano were shocked by the unexpected event that was occurring before their very eyes. Ren's cheeks started to become red and Ayano began to get pissed, "Pervert! What the hell are you doing to her?"

Karai's bruises started to fade away and soon after, her eyes slowly began to open.

_**Karai's Point of View**_

I felt something warm on my lips as I started to become conscious again. _'What is this?'_ I thought curiously.

I opened my eyes and saw Kazuma's face very, very and I mean VERY close to mine. I then realized that his lips were on my own and I started to blush. He noticed that I was awake and pulled his lips away from mine. _'Oh my god, he did not just kiss me! What the hell?" _I thought while my face was in shock.

"Well look who I find sleeping again?" He said with a small smile.

I was still confused at what was going on, "Um, why did you just kiss me right now?"

Before he answered, Ayano and Ren ran towards me and hugged me to death.

"Karai, you're alive!" Ren said happily.

"Karai, I'm sorry! This is all my fault! You told me to not let my guard down, but I did!" Ayano said guiltily.

Before I could say anything, Kazuma stood up, "I gave you some medicine to stop Ryuya's spirit from eating you from the inside out." His cheeks reddened a bit which nobody could have seen since his back was facing us, "and that was the only way I could give it to you."

Ayano and Ren pulled away from me. My cheeks were still a little flustered from that "kiss" he gave me, "Umm, thank you." Kazuma nodded at me. I looked at Ayano and finally noticed that Ren was there.

"Ren? When did you get here?" I said surprisingly.

"Kazuma rescued me and brought me here; I was the one who found you unconscious," Ren said before constricting me again, "I'm just so happy you're ok!" He exclaimed while squeezing the living daylights out of me.

"What kind of medicine did you give her?" asked Ayano curiously while Ren was crushing me.

"Elixir," he said coolly. Ren stopped hugging me, but still held on to me as we all looked at Kazuma.

Ayano sweat dropped, "E-elixir? What?" I just looked at Kazuma in bewilderment.

"Elixir? But isn't that supposed to be the rarest medicine in the whole world? Right?" Ren said after he let go of me.

Kazuma sighed, "Tell me about it. I'll probably never be able to get my hands on it again."

I suddenly felt guilty that he had to use such a rare medicine on me, "I'm sorry you had to waste it on me Kazuma. I'll pay you back for it if that will help."

"You better pay for it; but you are my friend," he said with his back still turned, "So of course I'd use it on you."

My heart kind of ached when he said that. _'Yeah… just a friend,' _I thought sadly.

Kazuma turned around, "So what happened when I was gone?"

I paused for a moment, recalling what happened, "Well, I stopped for a moment to rest after that long battle with Ryuya. Ayano was checking to see if I was all right. Then, out of nowhere, Ryuya was behind her and smacked her on the head before I could warn her. She flew away and landed on the ground unconscious. I tried to hit him but he jumped back. He then shot out some dark wind magic in Ayano's direction and I tried to stop it. I wasn't able to deflect it in time so I took the hit and flew into the tree. That is when I blacked out."

"Nice going Ayano," Kazuma sighed as Ayano had a sorry look on her face again to me before having a pissed look at Kazuma, "Jerk! Don't make me feel even guiltier than I already am!"

"It's all right Ayano," I said as I stood up, "It would have been irresponsible of me to just let Ryuya throw his attack at you while you were unconscious. Besides," I looked at her, "We are sisters after all?" I smiled at her, "Aren't we?"

She started to cry, "Thank you Karai! Maybe father telling us the truth wasn't such a bad idea after all. Maybe it's not so bad that we are sisters," she stopped with the tears and stood up, pointing at me, "But this doesn't mean that I will not be better than you one of these days! Just you wait and see!" I smiled at her.

"Wait a minute… since when were you sisters?" Ren said, looking at us back and forth.

"That's what I've been wondering," Kazuma said, scratching his head.

"We are half-sisters, to be more precise. We just found out before we left the Kannagi household," I said with my back to them, "But Jugo said he'd explain it more when we return," I made a serious face as I turned around to face them, "So what happened with you two?"

"Ryuya became possessed by the _yoma_. He was fully consumed with his anger that he even knocked all the Fuga clan out cold. He got away and we need to follow him now before he destroys everything," Kazuma said.

He grabbed Ayano's arm and held onto Ren before looking at me, "Karai, are you all right now?"

"Of course I am," I assured him.

Kazuma nodded at me, "All right then, let's go!"

I nodded back, "Let's do this." I started to hover when the flames shot out of my boots and the three went up in the sky in a gust of wind. I jet streamed next to Kazuma who was flying while holding Ayano and Ren at the same time as we searched for the _yoma_.

"Neat technique!" Ren shouted at me while he is being held by Kazuma.

"Thanks Ren," I said before noticing the green devil-looking _yoma_ flying in a dark wind tornado, "Look, there he is!"

"That's Ryuya? But his aura─," Kazuma cut Ayano off, "Is spreading. If we don't stop him in time, he'll wake the evil spirits in the ground too."

"Do we really stand a chance against something like this," Ayano said nervously.

"Don't tell me you got scared just because you got roughed up a bit," Kazuma said.

"Yeah, you're the next head of the Kannagi family, aren't you?" I yelled at her while jet streaming.

"Wait, who said I was scared? It is a Kannagi's sworn duty to rid the world of _yoma_, I'll stop this thing no matter what, or I'll die trying," Ayano exclaimed just before Kazuma banged his forehead on hers. _'She'll die trying huh? She should be living to finish Ryuya off once and for all_.'

"Are you trying to be noble or something?" He yelled at her, "Cause if you die, it's all over, your past and future disappear in the blink of an eye, there's no coming back. No matter how hopeless things seem, as long as you live to fight another day, there's always a chance. The last man standing wins. So you fight to survive─,"

"And you never give up!" I yelled at her, "You'll never be the Kannagi head if you die here!"

"Right," Kazuma said, taking a glance at me before looking back at Ryuya, "Now let's go!"

Ayano has a more determined face now as we continued to fly.

Dark spirits started to rise from the ground. Ren made Kazuma let go of him and he free fell on to the ground. He landed and faced the spirits. Fire emerged on his hand before he shot his flames at the spirits, "You guys go on ahead! I can take care of them!"

"Don't forget what I said Ren, we're counting on you," Kazuma said before flying off with Ayano.

I turned backwards, "Good luck Ren! Make sure to come back in one piece!" I said before turning back to follow Kazuma.

"Right!" Ren said before we left him to go fight our own battle.

We caught up to the _yoma. _Kazuma and I shot our magic at him. He dodged them and landed in the center of a grass field. We slowly landed on the ground as well. Ayano and Kazuma went in front of him while I went behind him.

The _yoma _screamed. Ayano summoned Enraiha and started charging at him. Kazuma and I shot our magic at him, but he deflected our attacks once again. Ayano struck him, but he blocked. When she lost her guard for a moment, the _yoma_ almost hit her, but Kazuma shot his magic at him.

"What are you doing?" Kazuma yelled at Ayano for leaving an opening.

"Leave me alone!" Ayano yelled back at him.

I sighed before summoning Kaito Enraiha to my hand. I ran straight for the demon's back, but he disappeared in a gust of wind before I could hit him. He appeared behind Ayano, "Behind you!" I yelled at her.

She saw him and put her sword behind her to block his attack just in time. She was pushed forward, causing her to lose her footing and stumbling right into me. I was about to fall backwards from the collision, but Kazuma caught me before we could both fall. He gently pushed me back up. Ayano and I both stood in front of him. I smiled at him, "Thanks." "Yea thanks," Ayano said as well before looking at me, "And I'm sorry for stumbling into you Karai."

"It's no problem Ayano, don't make such a fuss about it," I told her.

"You're welcome," Kazuma said to both of us before sighing, "I really don't like him."

We turned around and looked at the _yoma _who summoned some dark tornados around him. He released a surge of power as he screamed, causing the ground to be destroyed all around him.

"What can we do to stop something that powerful?" Ayano asked quietly.

"Just keep doing what you are doing," Kazuma said, "Go after him with Enraiha," he said to Ayano, "And wait for an opening. I'll try to slow him down," He then looked at me, "Karai, go across from him and wait until his guard is down and then attack." I nodded and started to hover around the _yoma _to get on the other side. Once I landed, I summoned Kaito Enraiha to prepare an attack.

A tunnel of wind appears where Kazuma and Ayano were and stopped in front of the _yoma_. Ayano ran into the tunnel and struck the_ yoma_ with her sword.

Kazuma put his hands up in the air, summoning his powers. He was then surrounded by a giant wind tornado which shot up to the sky, and went down on the _yoma_.

I closed my eyes to shield myself from the debris from the attack, but felt wind surrounding me. I opened my eyes to see a gust of wind shielding me and I saw Ayano in one too. The _yoma _was kneeling in the middle of the hole that was created from that attack Kazuma did. _'Who knew that Kazuma would have such power,'_ I thought, intrigued.

Ayano charged at the fallen _yoma_, intending to strike him, but he blocked her attack with his arms crossed. He pushed her sword a bit and then punched it. _'That barely even fazed him," _I thought with worry.

"Karai!" Kazuma yelled. I looked at him as he was surrounded by wind, "Get ready!"

I nodded at him once again and prepared to go. I saw the fallen Ayano and went to attack the _yoma_, but he deflected it again. I slid down backwards. Anger welled up inside me again from feeling so weak, _'I can't give up now! I need to avenge my parents and Misao's brother! We need to get rid of this __**yoma**__ once and for all… to protect everyone that we care about!' _

A new strength filled up inside me. I got up and shot my flames at the _yoma_ at the same time that Ayano did, noticing that we both had different colored flames. Mine was purple, while hers was crimson. _'Wow, two of the divine flames. Now we're getting somewhere,'_ I thought with confidence. Our attacks hit him as a distraction before me and Ayano held out our swords with their new temporary colors.

"I'm tired of buying you time, and I don't need your stupid backup. I can handle this one on my own!" Ayano yelled, striking the _yoma _with all she got. A sweat drop appeared on my head, _'I'm guessing she is talking to Kazuma and she forgot that I was here...again.'_

"Ayano, don't forget about me!" I screamed as I hit the _yoma_ from behind. It was like a ball game with Ayano and I, except it was the _yoma_ that was like the ball. Ayano hit him in the front and when he went towards me, I hit him in the back.

Ayano and I yelled as we both ran at him at the same time and sliced off his arms simultaneously. She got his right arm while I got his left.

I jumped back a bit in a kneeling position to rest. I saw Ayano kneeling with her sword stabbed on the ground; her flames spread around her and over to the _yoma_, looking as if he got burnt.

Ayano panted and looked down with closed eyes, thinking she is victorious as the smoke went everywhere.

Once the smoke cleared, I noticed that he was still alive. He was slowly going towards Ayano, "Look out! He's still alive!"

She looked up and shockingly saw him going in her direction. "You've got to be kidding me," she said as she got up and started backing up. He kept coming closer to her. Wind surrounded her and Kazuma appeared behind her. He grabbed her shoulders.

She noticed his different colored eyes, "Kazuma, what happened to your eyes?"

"The spirit king of the wind marked me as the Contractor," he explained. My eyes widened, _'So Kazuma made a contract with the Spirit King? Who knew that a member of a family of fire magic users would be able to do that?' _I thought and smiled, _'Good for you Kazuma.' _Wind started to surround me, indicating that he was protecting me.

Ayano got away from his arms to look at him, "Marked you as the─, you mean─, the Spirit King has given you his blessing?" he nodded at her.

Kazuma looked at the _yoma_, "Now, time for you to go back to hell where you belong!" The wind around the two grew wider as it became a giant tornado. The _yoma _tries to protect himself with his own wind, as Kazuma's were surrounding and crushing him. _'He's purifying him… now we'll be able to make a final strike,' _I thought.

When I knew it was the right time to strike him, I yelled at Ayano, "Ayano! Let's finish him now!" I ran towards the _yoma_ with Ayano. She stabbed him in the neck. I jumped and landed my heels on his shoulders and stabbed his head. We both summoned our flames and they released through our swords. He exploded and obliterated.

Wind was released everywhere from the explosion. I managed to avoid it when I jumped off the _yoma's _shoulders in time and flipped backwards onto the ground to get away, though I can't say the same for Ayano. She was still standing there with her sword up to the sky until the wind dispersed. I made Kaito Enraiha disappear as the air started to clear.

When I got up and looked in the direction of Ayano, my eyes widened. Her clothes were torn and her undergarments could be seen. I felt sorry for her. _'Good thing I got away before that could happen to me,' _I said in relief as a sweat drop appeared on my head, _'I wonder if she even notices.'_

Before I could tell her, Kazuma began to collapse and I caught him before he could hit the ground. I gently sat on the floor and rested his head on my lap.

"You ok there?" I asked him softly, holding his head as he closed his eyes, "Yeah, I'm all right. Using that ability just strains my body easily." I smiled at him, "Just rest then." He nodded while his eyes were still closed.

"You didn't need me to win that fight did you? You could have just had Karai with you." Ayano said, approaching us. I totally forgot about her present attire since I kept looking down at Kazuma to make sure he was ok.

"No, I did need you. I needed both of you actually. Just because I have a contract with the Spirit King, it doesn't mean I'm invincible." He said as he continued resting on me.

"I guess not. At least not if it takes you that long to get your attack ready," she said.

"Well─," Kazuma said before getting cut off by Ayano, "Hold on a sec," she stated as she sat on him and lifted him up by his shirt. When his head was no longer on my lap and I looked up, I remembered that Ayano was half-naked. "Umm Ayano─," I said, trying to warn her, but she doesn't hear me because she's too busy trying to get an explanation from Kazuma.

"You waited on purpose! When were you really ready?" She yelled at him. He looked to the side before he answered her, "It was about the time when you got blown away, I guess."

"Then why didn't you do something, why didn't you try to help!" Ayano yelled.

"Oh come on. If I stepped down, you would have felt like a loser for the rest of your life, and you know it. Besides, Karai was helping you wasn't she? Give her some credit as well," Kazuma said, "Aren't you even glad you did most of the work?" I didn't say anything since I didn't want to be involved in the argument. I just sighed, not looking at Ayano's direction.

"That's supposed to make me feel better?" Ayano yelled at him in anger.

"Yeah, because you impressed me out there," he said before looking at me, "Karai has always impressed me since we were little though." He said with a smile.

I smiled back at them both, "Yeah, yeah, flatter me all you want." I then looked at Ayano, despite her clothing problem, "You've proven me wrong out there Ayano. Looks like you can fight besides me after all, although you might need a little work on your evading and dodging." I then muttered, "And not to mention jumping out of the way of things to avoid embarrassing situations."

"You're both being so nice to me," Ayano said, but she realized the last thing that I said, "Hey! What do you mean by that?"

Keeping silent, I stood up and turned my back to them. Ayano was still curious as to why I said that and got her answer from the person she was sitting on awkwardly.

"Umm, how long are you planning on sitting like that? I mean, I'm flattered and all but…," Kazuma said, smirking. I kicked him on the head gently.

"Ow! Karai, that hurt!" he yelped in pain. I guess that wasn't such a _gentle_ kick after all.

Ayano finally realized what we were talking about and looked at her current attire. She started to panic, especially when Ren showed up.

"Ayano, Kazuma, Karai!" Ren exclaimed happily while running towards us, smiling, but as soon as he saw how Ayano was dressed, he gasped and turned around, hiding his face.

Ayano started to get red and growled. Fire erupted from her and shot up to the sky. She shouted, "Kazzummaa!"

"Oh boy," I sighed. I pulled her up once she cooled down and moved her to a spot that was away from Kazuma so she wouldn't kill him. I took off my long jacket, and gave it to her.

"Here put this on and zipper yourself up before you embarrass yourself more."

"Thank you," she said before putting on my jacket, muttering to herself at how Kazuma was a pervert.

I turned back to where the guys were, "Come on, we better go back to the Kannagi household."

"A little help here please!" Kazuma asked, waving his hand around as he continued to lie on the ground, unable to get up.

I sighed, "Ren, go on ahead with Ayano. I'm going to help Kazuma," I ordered him, "We don't want her killing him, now do we?"

He sweat dropped, "No we don't," he said before he turned and ran to Ayano, who was still red as a cherry. They started to walk once he got to her.

I walked towards Kazuma and helped him up. I put his arm around my shoulder and he put his other arm around my waist. We started walking in the direction the other two were going.

"Hey, Kazuma?" I said, looking at him. He looked back at me, waiting for what I was going to say.

"Thank you again," I said before giving him a kiss on the cheek. I then quickly looked straight ahead as I blushed.

He kept staring at me and chuckled, "What for?"

I nudged his side, "What do you think? For saving me!"

He nudged me back and chuckled, "No problem at all. After all, you are paying me."

I chuckled while shaking my head, "You really have changed."

He frowned, "Why? Is that a bad thing? I am keeping my promise now."

"No, no, it's a very good thing. You always doubted yourself before and never was able to fight back, but now look at you!" I reassured him with a smile.

He smiled back, "Yeah. Now I can protect you and everyone."

"Yeah," I said, looking down sadly, _'But of all the times that you needed me, I wasn't able to be there for you when you really needed it most.'_

He noticed my expression and stopped us from walking, "Hey, are you ok?"

I looked up at him with a forced smile, "I'm fine. Just a little tired."

We stood there for a few second until I hugged him immediately and placed my head on his chest, "I missed you so much."

He wrapped his arms around my waist and rested his chin on my head, "I missed you too."

"I still can't believe that you're back after three long years," I said happily.

"I can't believe it myself. I'm sorry for leaving you without saying goodbye. Of all people, I probably hurt you the most," Kazuma says apologizing to me sincerely.

"All is forgiven," I said to him, feeling disappointed that he still only saw me as his _best friend_ while I hoped that someday we can be something more.

He tightened his hold on me like he did those years ago, "Thank you Karai. You're so understanding."

We were interrupted by the two up ahead, "Hey guys! Sorry to ruin the moment, but we've got something to ask!" Ren yelled with a blush on his face, as well as Ayano.

We broke apart and looked at him, "What is it?" I asked, starting to blush as well.

"Which way is home?" Ren said.

Kazuma and I sweat dropped from realization that we were surrounded by trees in a field, with no path around that can lead us back home. We sighed once we went back to our original positions, with me supporting him, as we proceeded to figure out where the hell we were and how to get the heck out of this place.

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**Chapter 6 is over! Hope you liked it! By the way, the jet streaming technique that Karai knows how to do is like how Azula does it from Avatar: the Last Airbender (one of the best shows) except she can stay in the air as long as she wants and jet around while Azula can only temporarily stay up in the air.**

**Did you like the KaraixKazuma moment at the end of the chapter? X) If you did, I'm glad because I thought that it would be a nice scene to add after Ayano blows up and fire erupts from the sky. **

**Thank you to Experienced, CMR Rosa and XienRue for reviewing the last chapter! By the way, since I can't reply to XienRue's review through a message, I thought I would do it here. ^^**

**XienRue: I'm glad you like the story so far =) and yes I wrote up to chapter 13 and am almost done writing chapter 14. This means that you can expect a chapter in a week or two since I already have it done. I just need to edit it. I like to write a number of chapters ahead because it takes me a day or two to write a chapter and from a few days to weeks to actually want to write a new chapter. Also, I can re-edit the chapters over again if I want to since I wrote them already. It's just much easier for me. Hope you understand my method of updating x) Thanks again for reviewing! Keep it up!**

**Reviews please? The button is just down here.**

**I**

**V**


	7. The Story of Love and Happiness

**Chapter 7: The Story of Love and Happiness**

**Re-edited chapter 7 version up!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma.**

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_**Karai's Point of View**_

After _finally_ finding our way back to the Kannagi house, we went back to the room where we were having a discussion with Jug- I mean Father. It felt weird to say that after I've always thought my other father was my birth father. _'He better explain himself for the reason that none of them told me over the years_.'

We had to wait for Ayano to change her attire after the incident with the clothing she wore before. When she got back, she was wearing the _same_ uniform, definitely a spare, though, since her other one was brutalized. I frowned, wondering why she only woreher uniform when she could wear something else, but shrugged it off as she gave me my jacket back and thanked me before sitting down. I'll just ask her some other time. We have other important matters right now.

Jugo sat in his usual seat while the rest of us sat in a row: Ren, Ayano, Kazuma, and then me. We were all very anxious to hear what he had to say.

"Father, so what is going on? How is it that Karai and I are related and that you're her father?" Ayano asked curiously.

I just waited for him to say something as I slightly clenched my fists with anxiety to hear what he had to say for himself, and for my now dead parents.

"The truth is that Karai's mother, Hikari, was my first love and wife. She was one of the strongest of her clan while I was from mine. Both of us were part of our own clan's head families, which is why we were able to meet and eventually, fall in love," Jugo said with a smile, remembering the memories while we listened.

He continued, "Members of both our family did not approve our relationship because of the certain disbeliefs and tensions between clans for many years, but after a while, they gave in after realizing how our relationship could be the start of having peace again. Our joining together is the reason that the families decided to depend on each other once again and become close. We were actually the first two people of our clans to actually be a couple since the Uchihas had broken off from our family many years ago and changed their last name to what it is today. Before, the clans barely had anything to do with each other besides meeting for certain cases that needed the assistance of both clans. When I became the head of the Kannagi family, Hikari and I married and she lived with me at the Kannagi house. Under my leadership, the clans started to get along. Soon after, Hikari was pregnant with Karai and we were both happy," Jugo said as he looked at me with a smile and I gave a small smile back.

"She was two months along already when she needed to go back to the Uchiha house to go take care of some business for a few weeks. When she came back, I knew that there was something wrong with her because she wasn't as happy as she usually was. I kept on asking her, but it took days before she could tell me. She told me that even though she was happy with me, she couldn't forget her very first love, Daisuke, the one who you have called father all this time," Jugo said as I continued to look at him, bewildered by the information I was hearing.

"The reason why she went back to the Uchiha house was because the family needed to choose a new head and as a member of the Uchiha clan, especially of the head branch, she had to attend. Apparently, Kaname, the previous head of the Uchiha family and your other uncle, had died during one of his missions. His younger brothers were to battle to see who would be the new head of the family because of his untimely death. His brothers were your father, Daisuke, and your uncle Daichi. Your father had won and he was once again living in the Uchiha house. That was the first time that he and you're mother had last seen each other after a few years. She told me that he had disappeared after losing the last battle as head of the family against Kaname. He really wanted to win and was very upset that he felt he needed to leave for a while to become stronger. Your mother was heartbroken that he left, especially since he never said goodbye to her. When Hikari and Daisuke saw each other again, she knew that even though she loved me, Daisuke will always come first in her heart. Daisuke also realized once he came back that all he needed was her, but with luck, he also achieved his goal. " he paused for a bit before continuing once again.

"She explained that when she met me, she was still in love with Daisuke, but she fell in love with me as well. She was torn between the two of us, but she knew in her heart that your father was the one. She had gotten in a fight with him during her stay at the Uchiha house because he wanted her to stay with him, but she couldn't since she was already married with me and this is why she was upset," Jugo said sadly.

"So, out of my best judgment, I made the decision for her. I let her go be with the one she truly loved. She argued that she didn't want to hurt me, but I told her that it was all right with me as long as she was happy. I didn't want her to force herself to stay with me if she wouldn't be happy. Also, if she had kept on being stressed, she might have had a miscarriage and you wouldn't have been born. I even let her keep you and have Daisuke as your father because it was unfortunate that he wasn't able to have any heirs due to a critical injury that he had gotten when he was away while I knew I still could. It didn't mean that I didn't want you though because I did and I love you so much, but I did it for your mother's sake," I smiled a little.

"When you were born, alive and healthy, it was the most joyous day ever. You looked so much like your mother and some of me. You mostly had the Uchiha look so it wouldn't have been easy to tell who the father was, but everyone knew. It was obvious that you would grow up to be a black fire magic user which was another reason as to why you should have stayed in the Uchiha house. Also, even though your mother went back to the Uchiha house, the families continued to stay close. The Uchiha clan from then on wasn't as strict as they were before thanks to your father being the new head."

I hid my face as tears began to fall after hearing a story like this. It was all too much. That was such a complicated story to take in all at once. Ayano and Ren looked very sad. Kazuma had comforting eyes looking at me and put one of his hands on top of my clenched ones.

"A few years later, I eventually met Ayano's mother, fell in love with her, married her and had Ayano. Everyone was happy. Daisuke, Hikari, and I asked everyone not to tell your generation about what I had told you until you were older, but I had to tell you already because I felt it was the right time. And also by myself since your parents died during that attack a few years ago," Jugo said as Kazuma's eyes widened.

"They died?" Kazuma said surprised, looking at me, since he wasn't aware.

I lifted my head up as my tears stopped flowing, "Yes they did. It was the Fuga clan who ambushed them, but we were never able to prove it was them. They were able to get away with it until now. I'm glad we took care of them before they killed any other members from the clans."

"So that's why you are now the head?" Kazuma said, still in shock.

"Yes. I am now the head of the Uchiha clan along with my Uncle Daichi. I was lucky I didn't have to battle anyone for my right since my uncle doesn't have any kids," I replied. I held out my hand in front of me and materialized Kaito Enraiha in it, just staring at it. _'Mother, father… you have finally been avenged. I'm sorry it took this long.'_

"I'm sorry that your parents weren't alive to tell you themselves," Jugo said.

"No, it's all right," I got out of my thoughts and de-materialized Kaito Enraiha from my hand, "Things happen. You just got to move forward and become stronger. Besides," I said while looking at him, "I still have one parent, don't I?" I smile at him as he smiled back.

Ayano then spoke up, "Wait, so then isn't Karai supposed to be the heir to the Kannagi household also?" I realized that that is actually true. I could have been heir to both households. I might have even had to fight Kazuma. '_It is also a good thing that I didn't need to fight anyone for my right to become Uchiha head,'_ I thought in relief.

"That is indeed possible. If she had been living in the Kannagi household, it would have been her and Kazuma fighting to be heir as head, instead of you Ayano," Jugo said.

"Now that would have sucked," I looked at Kazuma who said that, "If I had to fight my best friend because of some title."

"At least that didn't have to happen," I smiled at him.

"Well, Ayano is already the heir and you're the head of the Uchihas, so there's no problem. Unless you want to fight Ayano for your right as heir and someday become head of both clans, you can if you want," Jugo explained.

Ayano cringed a little from what he said. I held my hands up in to protest, "No, that's all right. It would be hectic having to run both families. It'll be a good experience for Ayano to have some leadership. She just needs lots of training though, especially with that attitude of hers."

Ayano smiled at that statement with a twitch, trying to control herself, "Thanks a lot, Onee-san."

"It is still amazing that Ayano Nee-sama and Karai Nee-sama are sisters!" Ren exclaimed going all hyper like he usually is, "I mean, you can't even tell that they are since they're really different from each other!"

"Yeah, I can't believe it either. Never in my life did I think that that was possible," Kazuma said grinning.

Ayano had a stress mark on her head, "And what is that supposed to mean?"

Before a fight started, I spoke while getting up, "Well, I think it is time to go home already. It is getting late and I told Ichiru that I was going to be home by now. Thank you, Ju- I mean Father for telling me the truth." Yeah it's still going to take some time to get used to calling him that, but I'll manage.

"Very well then, Karai," Jugo said as he got up as well and gave me a hug, "I'm glad that you took the news well like I knew you would. We'll all get through this," he let go of me, "Would you like an escort to take you home? Maybe Kazuma, perhaps?" Kazuma was about to say something, but I spoke before he could.

"No, that's all right," I protested, "I already texted Ichiru to come pick me up. He should be here soon. Everyone, I'll be going now." Someone suddenly tackled me before I could leave or even blink.

"Don't go yet Nee-sama! Stay a little longer!" Ren yelled as he hugged me really tight. Everyone sighed from Ren's behavior.

"Sor-ry R-en, I got-ta go," I struggled to say as he kept constricting me.

"Ren! Get off Onee-san! She has to go already!" Ayano yelled at Ren, trying to pry him off me.

Kazuma sighed and used his wind to separate Ren from me. I was finally able to breathe. I got up and adjusted my jacket which Ayano gave back to me earlier, "Thanks Kazuma."

"No problem. I better get going as well. I expect my pay from the both of you," he said to Father and me.

"Of course you'll get it. Also, you and Karai are invited to attend a luncheon here tomorrow. I expect to see you two," Father said like we had no choice.

Kazuma nodded at Father. He then said his goodbyes to Ayano who was still mad at him and also to Ren who didn't want him to leave either. When he got to me, he gave me a hug. After he released me, he left the room.

I went to give Ayano a hug and Ren right after with Ayano holding him to make sure he doesn't kill me.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow," I said before leaving the room, putting my boots on, and going to the entrance as well to wait for Ichiru.

When I was almost there, I saw Kazuma standing in front of it and guessed that he was waiting for me. When I finally made it, I leaned on the wall.

"So do you have a place to stay as of now?" I asked him curiously.

"After that idiotic Ryuya destroyed the building that I was staying at, I'm going to have to look for another place to stay," he said in annoyance.

"We have extra rooms in my household if you want," I assured him, "Nobody minds you staying there."

"Nah, that's ok. I can find a place on my own. Thanks for the offer though," Kazuma said.

"Ok then. The offer still stands whenever you want," I told him.

He chuckled, "All right."

"By the way, how are you right now? Still feel like collapsing?" I asked him with concern.

"I'm better, but my head still kind of hurts," he frowned.

I smiled at him before I placed my hand on his forehead and a small black flame appeared as I healed his headache. The flame goes away and I pulled my hand down, "Feeling better now?"

"Loads. Thank you, Karai," he smiled softly.

"It's no problem. It's just like the good old days when I used to do that for you," I smiled back at him.

"Yeah," he said before giving me another quick hug, "Well, I'm off. See you later," He said before he was surrounded by a gust of wind and flew off.

"See ya, Kazuma," I said before he faded off into the night. Ichiru just arrived as he beeped the horn to get my attention. _'Oh boy, he's going to lecture me to death,' _I thought as I walked to the car.

~…~

"You did what?"

I sighed as Ichiru kept yelling at me as I sat on my bed and he paced around my room back and forth like a chicken that lost its head.

"You almost got killed for heaven's sake!"

When we got home, we went immediately straight to my room to talk about what happened today. I had just finished telling him about the ambush that occurred this morning and how I made it to the Kannagi house in time before I blacked out when he started to freak out… and that was only the beginning of how my day went.

"But I didn't and I am all right. I was able to heal myself," I assured him, "I don't go down that easily you know."

He sighed, "I know that, but next time, take someone with you to make sure that you are still alive before the family members freak out if they hear that their head was on the brink of death."

"Like you?" I snickered, but stopped when he glared at me.

"Fine… I'll think about it," I sarcastically said, "But I did tell you and you were fine with it, you know."

"Yeah, that was my mistake. Next time, I'm coming with you."

"Fine, whatever," I said before telling him about the fight with the yoma and how the Fuga clan was definitely involved with the ambush a few years ago. I also mentioned how I had to work with Ayano to go rescue Ren. I didn't tell him yet about Kazuma being there as well.

"What? I thought you disliked Ayano?" He asked in confusion after he stopped pacing.

"Well, I had to because of Jugo, who I found out was my real father," I calmly said.

"What?" he said, looking shocked. I explained to him the whole ordeal that Jugo just told me hours ago.

He just looked at me, "Are you serious? Doesn't that mean Ayano is your half-sister?"

"Yup. We're beginning to get along now, surprisingly, since we found out," I then paused for a second before saying something again, "Oh yeah, Kazuma helped out as well, by the way."

He continued to stare at me, "Really? He came back already?"

"Yup, he just left when you arrived to pick me up," I said.

"Well, how is he?" Ichiru asked.

"He's doing pretty well. He changed so much," I said, "His last name, attitude─; he even acquired magic of his own."

"Seriously? That's great! So he's a fire magic user now?"

"Nope."

He gave me a confused look, "Then what? I assumed since he was born into a family of fire magic users, he would be one."

"He's a wind magic user," I said as I lied down onto my bed, "And a very powerful one too."

"Wow, that's amazing. Who knew that he would be able to pull it off!"

"Mhmm," I said as I continued to just stare at the ceiling.

"So, how are you doing?" He asked with concern.

"I'm all right. Don't worry about me," I paused before continuing, "It was just so strange… to see him again, after all these years."

"You mean after he left without saying anything to you?"

"He had his reasons. Besides, he apologized."

"Still, he did hurt you."

"You know I can't stay mad at him that long."

Ichiru sighed, "Yeah, I know. Well I hope things get better. That's so much to take in for one night so just take it easy," he gave me a hug and a kiss on the forehead before he opened the door, "I'm going to report to Uncle Daichi what you told me before I go to sleep. Good night."

"Night, don't let the bed bugs bite," I said smirking, "or flame you."

"Hope not," he chuckled.

"Oh and I'll be going to my usual spot soon. Just to let you know."

He looked at me, "In the middle of the night?" he asked before sighing, "All right then, make sure you don't get ambushed again. I am too tired to go with you so I trust you to do fine on your own. Take care of yourself."

"I will."

He nodded before leaving the room.

I checked my watch to see that it was 9:15, _'I think I'll go there at 10:00,' _I thought.

I got up from my bed and went to take a shower. When I finished, I put on black jean shorts instead of my usual jeans, my regular tank top, boots and fingerless gloves. I decided to leave my jacket off since it was a warm night out. I blow-dried my hair until it wasn't wet anymore. It was 9:45 already, so I headed for the meadow already.

Once I got there, I was surprised and at the same time, wasn't surprised to see Kazuma in the meadow. He was spacing out as he stared at the tree.

"I knew I'd find you here eventually," I said as I walked there and stood next to him.

He got out of his daze, turned to look at me and smiled, "Of course. This was the only place where no one bothered us. It's been a long time since I've cleared my mind."

I smiled, "Then I guess it's a good think you came back."

"Yeah," he said.

"So where did you fly off to after you left the Kannagi house?" I asked.

He looked at me and smirked, "I just went to see how my old man was doing in the hospital since I'm the reason he's there in the first place. Then I went to a few other places before coming here."

"Oh yeah," I giggled, "I heard about you fighting your father and beating him up. I wish I could have seen that."

He chuckled, "Yeah, too bad. It felt good to be able to kick his ass."

We got off that topic as we just leaned against the tree and stared at the grass moving in the rhythm of the wind, talking about memories that happened years ago and laughing from the good times.

At some point, we didn't speak for a good few minutes until I decided to ask him something, "So… how did you manage to change so much in just a matter of four years?"

He answered with pauses between each sentence, "Lots of things happened. Good and bad. And it all happened in China," he said with a calm, yet expressionless face, "I'll tell you some other time though. Not now."

"Ok, I won't bother you about it," I said softly.

He smiled at me, "Thank you," before looking at the scenery again, "So how were you doing?"

"Lots of training to improve my skills and to be the head. Losing loved ones. Becoming the head of the clan so early. Finding out about stuff… Basically, lots of things happened," I said with no expression.

"I'm sorry about your parents. They were great people," he said sincerely.

"Yes they were. I can't believe there was a story to them and my real father," I said before sighing, "At least I still have my birth dad and now a half-sister," I said before muttering, "Who can be annoying at times."

"Yup, that's true, but she has her moments," he said, chuckling a bit, before having a serious face on, "You know, even though my parents are still alive, they still abandoned me."

"That was pretty mean, but maybe it was a good thing, yet still bad. I mean, look at you now! You are a powerful magic user," I assured him.

"Yeah, I bet I could beat you now," he said grinning.

"Ha, we'll see about that!" I playfully said as I got off the tree and stretched my arms a bit, "but not tonight, I'm beat tired after all that happened today. I'll kick your ass some other time."

He chuckled, "Watch out, I may just kick yours." He got off the tree as well.

I laughed, "So did you find a place to stay tonight?" I asked.

"Yeah, I was able to get a penthouse somewhere in the city."

"Wow, you were able to get an apartment like that in over a few hours?" I said, bewildered, as he shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal.

I sighed for like the hundredth time today, "At least you found an apartment or else I would have dragged you to one of the spare rooms in my place." I stopped stretching and turned to him, "Well, I'll see you at the Kannagi house tomorrow then. I'm going back to get some sleep."

"Yeah, same here," he said as we gave each other another hug and let go.

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot!" I got an envelope out of my pocket and handed it to Kazuma, "Here's your pay for all of your hard work. I brought it with me in case I saw you tonight. And it looks like I did," I smiled at him.

He smiled back before taking it and putting it in his pocket, "Thank you very much. It has been nice doing business with you," He then turned around and walked a few steps away from me before stopping and turning his head, "See ya," he said before a gust of wind surrounded him again and he flew off into the night once more.

I shook my head before heading back to the household and to my room. I changed into my sleeping clothes before going on my bed. As I laid my head on my pillow, trying to sleep, I couldn't help but think about what Kazuma had been doing when he was away since I was worried to death about him. I really wanted to know, but knew that I had to wait until he was ready to tell me. Before I knew it, I fell asleep from thinking too much.

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**End of Chapter 7! ^_^ Hope that made all sense to you guys. Sorry if it didn't for some people.**

**When I was re-editing this many nights ago, I was also watching the new episode of Bleach on Cartoon Network. In the episode, Captain Amagai killed himself when he found out that his revenge was all for nothing -_- I really don't see why he had to do that. **

**Btw, if you are wondering what Ichiru looks like, his appearance is basically Zero from Vampire Knight except with black hair since all Uchihas have black hair. When I was creating him, I just picked a name from any anime that I knew and when I named him Ichiru, I couldn't stop seeing him as Zero since he's Ichiru's twin! It was so frustrating since he has silver hair, so that's what he looks like except his personality is definitely different from Zero's XD. I still see him with silver hair though and I don't think that will change in my mind so I gave up on trying.**

**Please review!**


	8. A Friend's Pain Part 1

**Chapter 8: A Friend's Pain Part 1**

**Chapter 8 is up! This is the re-edited version!**

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma or the song Wedding Dress.**

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_**Karai's Point of View**_

We were eating lunch in the Kannagi household. Father was sitting in his spot as usual while there were two rows of people that sat across from one another. The row on the right of Father was filled with all Kannagi members─ the one closest to Father being Misao's father, Masayuki.

I sat closest to Father on the left row. The seat to my left was empty because Kazuma wasn't here yet. Next to him would be Ayano, Ren and the two other members. There were a few women serving drinks to people, including Misao, who went to the other room.

I sighed, _'And I thought I was the one who was always late,' _I thought, shaking my head a bit as I continued eating.

"While everyone is mostly here, we should all thank Lady Karai for her help with dealing with the Fuga clan. After all, the Uchiha family figured out that the Fuga clan was responsible for the deaths of the previous head, his wife, and several members of their family, but weren't able to get evidence. She also had a suspicion that the Fuga clan also killed some of our members as well so she deserved to take care of them, along with Ayano, Ren and our other guest Kazuma who isn't here yet," Jugo said as everyone clapped and I nodded.

"Also, all four of them have already found out that Karai is my daughter so she should be given an even more upmost respect than just being the head of her clan," Father revealed. They bowed their heads at me in respect. I nodded my head at them.

"Since she now knows that she is part of the head branch of the Kannagi family as well, shouldn't she fight for her right as heir?" One of the members asked.

"That is true. She would make a much better head than your other daughter, no offense to her though," the member next to the one who talked said.

"Yes, especially with the current status as head of the Uchiha clan," another member said.

Ayano cringed as she looked down with shame, knowing that it was true, but I was beyond pissed, "I'm sorry, but I will do no such thing. I am fine with being just the head of the Uchiha clan. I don't think it would be fair to Ayano if I was head of both sister clans. She may seem unfit, but she is more than capable of leading your family as the head. In the years to come, with training, she will become a great leader just like I am trying to be," I calmly argued, "You should apologize for being so disrespectful to your future head."

"We are sorry for offending you Lady Ayano. What we said was rude," one of the ones who spoke out said as they bowed.

"You are forgiven. You were just speaking out your opinions," Ayano said calmly as she looked at me with a grateful look. I gave her a look that said 'no problem' as I was really surprised that she was able to stay calm and nonetheless, forgive the members. She would usually yell out at those who insulted her, but what she just did proved that she was indeed capable of handling situations without acting impulsive, but she would need lots of practice since she is more of a hot-head.

Jugo smiled, "It seems both my daughters will be great heads in the future, although one of them is mainly a head already," he said looking at me and then at the members, "You should all be grateful for having promising leaders in this room right now, especially since they are younger than us all. Now let's continue eating while we wait for our other guest."

Everyone started chatting and eating again, like the conversation never happened. I was still pissed though.

"Karai."

I looked to see that it was Ayano who said my name, "What's up?" I asked with, trying to calm myself.

"Thank you for sticking up for me like that," Ayano said smiling at me.

"I'm your older sister. That is what they do," I told her.

Ren somehow appeared behind me and started squeezing the living daylights out of me, "Yeah Nee-san! You were awesome! You were… were amazing! I think deep down, you put fear into their hearts!"

"Ok, ok, Ren. I know. I am awesome! Now let go of me!" I said trying to pry him off me. He eventually did.

As I ate, I noticed Ayano was very slowly eating her food, like something was on her mind. Before I could ask her, Ren beat me to it, "Is something wrong Ayano? You look kind of mad."

"Yeah, is something bothering you?" I asked her with concern.

"What? No, nothing's wrong! Are you kidding me?" She said trying to be all cheery. I didn't believe her though.

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Positive! Although, I'm wondering why you aren't that mad," She said.

"Well, I still am pretty pissed off at these guys for disrespecting you," I said quietly so that she and Ren can only hear.

"I wasn't talking about that, but it's nothing! Don't mind me!"

"Ok then, whatever you say," I said, not believing her. _'Maybe it's because Kazuma isn't here yet?' _

One of the women spoke, "We have a visitor."

I heard a door slide open. Everyone looked towards the door and saw that it was Kazuma, _'Speaking of the devil.'_

"Well it's about time," Ayano said with relief. _'So it was because Kazuma was late,'_ I thought.

"There you are Kazuma. Come in. Please sit down," Father said as he walks in with his hands in his pockets and takes the empty seat next to me.

"I guess I'm kind of late, huh?" Kazuma said.

"No, we are very happy that you have decided to join us," Father told him.

"Who's the late one now?" I said grinning as I drank some tea.

"At least I wasn't late most of the time when we planned to meet," he said back at me.

"Hmm, touché," I said with surrender.

Jugo started speaking once again, "As you know, this man is Kazuma Yagami. We must all thank him like we did with Lady Karai for his invaluable assistance in dealing with the Fuga clan."

I could hear Ayano whispering to Ren, "Invaluable nothing! We had to pay him." I saw her notice that Ren wasn't even at his seat anymore. He was hugging Kazuma, who didn't even react to what his brother was doing.

"Hey! Kazuma! I'm so happy you're finally here!" Ren happily said. Ayano had an annoyed face from looking at him and I just sighed.

"Do you want anything to drink?" "I didn't come here because I was thirsty." Ren had a sour face after Kazuma said that, but kept on asking him if he needed anything.

"You're going to eat with us though, right?" "I didn't come here for food either." Ren had a very unpleasant face as Kazuma said that.

Ayano held the sensitive Ren and rubs her head on his motherly, "You're acting like a real jerk! Is that what you came here for?" They just kept arguing as I just kept sighing.

_Baby!_

_Listen to your heart, won't let you down_

_Cause you should be my Lady!_

_Now that we're apart love will show how_

_Life carries on…_

_I've never felt so strong_

_Life can lead us to a happiness never ending_

_If we just know that we belong to each other_

_Never worry, grow as we go_

_See you in your wedding dress_

When the song started repeating again, my eyes widened as I realized that that was my ringtone. Everyone looked at me as I embarrassingly laughed, "Umm I better take that. Sorry, continue what you were doing. I'll just be a minute," I said as I got up and went to the other room.

Misao passed by me with a smile as I gave one back. She then went into the room I was just at. I checked who was calling and it was Ichiru.

I answered, "Hello?"

"_Hi Karai."_

"Yes hi, now what is up?"

"_Just wondering how you are doing."_

"Are you kidding me? I'm doing ok! I'm at a luncheon right now. Is that all?"

"_Grouchy much, aren't we?"_ I could see the smirk on his face as he said that. He's lucky he isn't with me or else I would have smacked his head.

"Whatever, now can you tell me what you really were going to say?"

"_Haha, all right. To lighten up your mood, you have the rest of the week off as Uncle Daichi said that he will take care of the matters you were supposed to do so that you can take a break from all the stress. Isn't he such a wonderful Uncle?"_

"Really? That is so nice of him. I do need a break right now. Thank him for me right now and I'll do it again later, okay?"

"_All right Karai."_

"By the way, how about you and I go to that café that we used to go to? You could use a break as well."

"_Sure, I need as much a break as you do, especially since I'm like your assistant."_

I laughed, "Ok then, I'll meet you at the café later on. See ya then."

"_Bye Karai."_ I hung up my phone. _'That was a very nice thing of Uncle to do. I'm glad that I get a break,'_ I thought.

Suddenly, I heard a scream. _'That sounded like Misao!'_ I thought while panicking. I rushed into the room to see the backs of Kazuma, Misao, Ayano and Ren. Misao was standing behind Kazuma while Ren and Ayano stood a few feet away from them. Everyone was looking at Misao and Kazuma while Father kept drinking his tea. I was confused by the whole situation.

"No!" Ren said with concern and Ayano said, "Kazuma! Are you all right? Say something!"

Kazuma turned his head to look at Misao, "Feel better now?" he asked her.

I finally was aware of the knife Misao was trying to stab into Kazuma's back as his wind magic was deflecting it.

She pulled back, looking surprised that she couldn't injure him.

I decided to speak up, "What the hell is going on? I leave the room for a few minutes and I find that Misao is trying to kill Kazuma!" I demanded.

Ayano looked at me, "Kazuma said that he was the one responsible for the death of Misao's brother and she went all crazy!" I was bewildered by what I heard. I never knew Misao would do such a thing.

Ayano then turned to Father, "Father, this would probably be a good time for you to step in and do something!"

Father looked at Kazuma, "Kazuma?" He looked at Father, "If you are unwilling to punish Misao, then it becomes necessary for us to take appropriate action."

I didn't say anything as Father continued, "Masayuki, I ask you as her father, do you approve?"

"Yes. As a member of the Kannagi family, Misao will accept full responsibility for this as I'm sure she is prepared to," Misao's father replied.

"Don't you think that you all are kind of overreacting?" Kazuma said as everyone looked at him, "It's not like she killed me. She couldn't hurt me if she tried."

"Then if you do not wish to punish her, we will respect your decision. However, we cannot permit such inexcusable behavior and therefore I am afraid we will have to suspend Misao for the time," Jugo said.

"It's not fair! Why couldn't it have been you? Why did this have to happen? Why did my brother have to die?" Misao yelled.

"Because he was weak."

Everyone was shocked by what Kazuma said.

"Kazuma," Ren said.

Ayano got mad and pointed at Kazuma, "If that was supposed to be some kind of joke, then you got a really sick sense of humor. How can you say something so disrespectful? Have you already forgotten how weak you were and how it felt like before you discovered how to use wind magic?" I shook my head, _'There goes her impulsiveness again.'_

Kazuma turned his head slightly with his eyes closed, "Are you done? Because I am." He turned towards the door, slid it open and closed it once he was outside. Everyone started whispering in the room, although I couldn't hear what they were saying. Ayano was talking to Ren at how Kazuma was behaving badly.

I was kind of upset myself with the way Kazuma had acted, but I couldn't blame him. Kazuma's weakness was much different from Misao's brother. Still, he didn't need to say something like that.

I noticed Misao's hand clenched on the knife she was holding. _'She must be very mad right now,' _I thought. I walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked my way as I indeed saw her with an angry face.

"Don't worry about what Kazuma said. He's had a rough childhood," I tried to assure her.

She hid her face so I couldn't see it and muttered, "I won't forgive him for what he did…" She then shrugged her shoulder so that I would let go, turned around and left the room where she came from.

I stared at the door that she left through. I was kind of suspicious by what she said.

"I am sorry that Misao disrespected you like that Lady Karai," I looked at Masayuki who said that, "She should be punished along with her previous behavior with our guest."

I held up a hand, "There's no need to do that. One punishment is enough. Although, I think that I will keep an eye on her today. Just to make sure she's ok." _'…And doesn't do anything stupid,' _I thought. "Do you mind?" I asked Misao's father.

He shook his head, "Not at all milady. Misao should be grateful that you are treating her with such kindness and looking out for her."

"Thank you. I have to check on a few things back home first. I'll go check on her right when I get back," I said.

"Very well Karai. Thank you for joining us today. We hope to see you again soon," Jugo said as everyone bowed their head.

"Goodbye Father," I said before bowing. I turn to Ayano and Ren, "I'll see you guys later," as I smiled at them and waved a bit.

"Bye Karai Nee-sama!" They both said as they waved.

~…~

I was almost at the Kannagi household after going home for a bit. I even passed by Uncle Daichi and thanked him for giving me a break for the week. When I was halfway there, my phone rang.

_Baby!_

_Listen to your heart, won't let you down_

_Cause you should be my Lady!_

_Now that we're apart love will show how_

_Life carries on…_

I grabbed my phone and looked to see that it was Ayano. I answered.

"What is it Ayano?"

"_Nee-san, I need your help with something! Can you meet me right now?"_

"Sorry Ayano, I'd really like to help you, but I got something to take care of right now."

"_What?"_ She yelled before sighing, _"Fine, I was going to ask Ren to help me anyway."_

"Sorry again Ayano."

"_It's all right Nee-san. See ya."_

"See ya," I hung up the phone and put it back in my pocket. Once I got to the Kannagi house, I didn't see Ren around so I assumed that he left to meet Ayano.

I was heading in the direction of Misao's room. I walked and stopped in front of her door and was about to knock until I heard her voice on the other side, talking to someone on the phone. I listened to what she was saying, but couldn't get the whole sentence.

"You know… to do… Make sure… him… I'll be leaving… few minutes… Goodbye," I heard her no more, just the sound of movement and shoes being put on.

I was a little concerned with what I heard. _'Who could she have been talking to?' _I thought.

I stepped back a few steps very quietly. I then walked forward normally and knocked on her door. I heard a "Come in," and entered the door.

I was shocked to see Misao dressed up nicely. She was wearing a red short dress, a dark red coat that was like mine except it had long sleeves, no hood and wool parts on the end of the sleeve covering her wrists. She also had pink shoes with short heels and even wore makeup. She had a small pink purse that hung over her shoulder.

"Wow Misao, you look really pretty," I said still admiring how she looked.

"Thank you Karai, I have a date to go too today so I wanted to look nice," She replied with a smile, "By the way," she said as she turned around to get something to put in her purse, "I'm sorry for being so rude earlier. I was just mad, but I still shouldn't have done that."

"It's all right Misao! All's forgiven," I assured her, "It was understandable. Are you all right now?"

She turned around once again, "Of course I'm all right." She looked at her watch, "I should be heading off already to take care of some business."

I raised my eyebrow, "I thought you were going on a date?" I asked, trying not to be suspicious.

She flinched a bit, knowing that she had made a mistake, but was quick to fix it, even though I had already noticed, "Yeah and that too."

"Ok then, how about I walk with you there? I have a day off today." _'And for the rest of the week as well… but she doesn't need to know that,' _I thought.

"Sure, it's at Star Box Coffee," she said nervously like she didn't actually want me to come.

"Yeah, I know the place. I just need to make a quick call first. How about you meet me at the entrance?" I said with a smile. She nods and goes out her door.

My smile disappeared as I grabbed my phone and dialed Ichiru's number. It rang a few times before he answered.

"What's up Karai?"

"_Change of plans… I have something to take care of right now. We can go to the café tomorrow. Is that all right with you?"_

"Sure, it's fine. What kind of issue do you need to take care of?"

"_Misao has been acting strange and I need to keep an eye on her. I have to go now. Bye."_

"Ok then. Be careful."

I hung up and put my phone in my pocket. I walked out of the room, closed the door behind me and started walking to the entrance.

'_I hope Misao isn't going to do anything irresponsible…,' _I thought as I saw her waiting for me.

"All set? Let's go," she said as she began walking.

"Misao..."

Misao pauses and looks at me.

"Don't do anything that you'll regret," I told her before walking past her. She didn't say anything and just walked beside me as we headed for the train.

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**There you go! Chapter 8! ^^ **

**Karai's ringtone is called Wedding Dress by Taeyang. You should listen to it, it's a really good song. There's a Korean and English version =]**


	9. A Friend's Pain Part 2

**Chapter 9: A Friend's Pain Part 2**

**Chapter 9 is up and kicking! ^^ Re-edited version!**

**Not much to say, except read and enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma.**

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_**Karai's Point of View**_

We walked about ten minutes in silence, before I decided to ask her something, "So what kind of guy are you going on a date with?" I asked her. We were almost at the train station.

"He's cool," she said. _'That kind of sounds like Kazuma to me. Since he is a wind magic user after all,'_ I thought. We continued walking and entered the train when we got there.

It took about twenty to twenty-five minutes before we stopped at the city. We got off the train and walked on.

On the way, I sensed some presences that were following us. They were surrounding us from different distances. They were hit men though, not magic users. Two were even on the roofs of different buildings just waiting there, but they were far away from where we were. I couldn't sense who they were targeting so I decided to try something. I noticed the café Ichiru and I were supposed to go to.

I turned to Misao, "Hey Misao, I'm going to stop here. My cousin wanted me to get him a snack so you go on and have fun on your date."

"Ok then Karai-sama. I'll see you later," She smiled and bowed at me before walking on. I went inside the café, but just stood at the door. I felt the presences still following Misao.

'_So they __**are**__ just following her… I should go watch them from the roof. I wonder why though… She didn't do anything wrong.' _My eyes widened as a possibility came to mind,_ 'No way… She couldn't have.' _I though angrily as I clenched my fists. _'Let's hope that it isn't true.'_

Sensing that they weren't near me anymore, I calmed myself before I went outside the café and into the alleyway. Flames shot out my boots as I jet streamed to the roof of the building.

The two hit men on the roofs were not in my sight which was a good thing. I leapt from building to building, jet streaming through the air in search of Misao. I finally caught sight of her and followed after her from above.

I saw the building of Star Box Coffee, jumped on the top and landed. I walked towards the front of the building and looked down, waiting for Misao to go inside.

When she went in, the hit men stopped and hid in different spots, mainly in alleyways, but close to the building. I stood on top of the building, with crossed arms, looking down on the building, waiting for Misao to leave. I wanted to see what she was up to.

I was surprised, though, that the hit men were able to walk around without being thought as suspicious. I guess that people just assumed they were just business people or something as they walked by them.

"Ayano, (pant) can (pant) we (pant) please (pant) take a break. Where are we going to find him in a busy neighborhood like this? (pant) We don't have tracking skills like wind magic users or like the Uchiha clan… (pant) Why didn't you ask Karai Nee-sama for help?"

"It sounds like the only skill you have is whining Ren. Besides, I did and she was busy."

I was so deep in thought that I almost didn't recognize that Ayano and Ren were arguing as they were standing on the sidewalk in front of the building next to the one I was at, and heading towards the one that I was at. Ren had his hands on his knees, looking exhausted and Ayano was a few feet from Ren, with her hands on her hips.

The reason I that I finally figured out it was them was because Ayano was being her loud self… even though I was on top of a building

"So that's why Ayano needed my help… but who are they looking for?" I asked myself, wondering what the two are doing here and then remembered when Ayano called me and it clicked, causing me to frown and sigh, "Kazuma…"

"Now that I think about it… instead of dragging me all over the city to find Kazuma, why didn't you just call him on his cell phone?" Ren asked. I felt so sorry that Ren had to deal with Ayano right now.

"Why would I have that guy's cell number? And besides," she said as she turned around, "I don't want to talk to him."

"It's a good thing that Onee-san was busy so that she wouldn't have seen that idiot with some woman. I shouldn't have called her in the first place," she muttered to herself while Ren was too busy catching his breath before she continued walking forward, now in front of the building where I was.

A sweat drop appeared on my head, _'So that's what this was all about? Kazuma is with a woman?'_ I thought as I began chuckling, "Aww, she's trying to protect her big sister." Ayano and I used to not even like each other, but we've become closer. Ever since we found out we were related.

'_The funny thing is… it was just yesterday that we were told of our blood ties,' _I thought smiling, but then became sad, "Kazuma and another woman eh...?" I shook my head, trying not to think about it as I continued watching Ayano and Ren. It was probably just a friend.

"Ayano! Can we just rest for a little while? I'm begging you! I'm so thirsty─," he then paused.

"Ah walk it off! We don't have time to rest." "Umm," Ren said as Ayano turned her head to see what Ren was "umming" at.

Ren pointed at the building that I was on, "I think I just found him." Ayano looked where Ren was pointing at. Too bad I wasn't able to see him myself.

I tried sensing him and I did indeed felt his presence. I became surprised since Misao was in the building as well and it clicked, "Oh no, are you serious…," I was too busy making sure the hit men were still around that I didn't realize that Kazuma was here as well.

I saw Ayano drag Ren behind a tree to spy on Kazuma, even though I couldn't see him myself. I kept on listening to what they were saying, even if they weren't talking as loud as before.

"So Ayano, why are we hiding behind a tree? We just spent an hour looking for him?"

"Don't worry about it. It doesn't look like he is with anyone."

"Why? Was he with somebody else earlier?"

"Uh no, I was just making an observation," Ayano told Ren.

"Liar…," I said bluntly.

"It does kind of look like he's waiting for somebody."

"Here she comes!" Ren said as Ayano gasped a little. I became more anxious as I waited to hear who they said is with Kazuma, although I had a pretty good idea who it was.

Ayano looked a little bummed, "Hmm. Wow, she's kind of pretty. Is that…? Wait, that's Misao!"

I sighed, wishing that I wasn't right, "She didn't listen to me…" I was disappointed with her, knowing what she was trying to do.

I looked down below, and saw that Misao and Kazuma, with arms entwined, leaving the building. They started walking in the direction that Ayano and Ren came from before.

"Yep, that's her," Ren said as he got a better glimpse at her, "Do you think they are on a date?" He noticed that Ayano looked pissed and gets a little scared, "Umm, Ayano are you ok?"

"Let's go!" She said hastily, not answering his question and dragging him with her.

Ayano and Ren followed after them, very, VERY badly. It was so bad that Kazuma definitely noticed them by now since they were making themselves look like they were obviously following them. "She absolutely doesn't have any stealth," I said, shaking my head, "That's another thing that she has to work on."

The hit men started moving as well and so did I. I slowly jet streamed through the air instead of leaping from building to building like I previously did. I didn't know where they were going, so I had to go in the pace that they were walking. I stayed close to the buildings as I followed them.

Kazuma and Misao finally went through an alleyway where the love hotels were, but went past them. They got out of the alley, turned left on a street and right through the entrance of another love hotel, but they just stood in the medium-sized lawn.

I noticed the two snipers on the buildings that they were on. I landed on a building next to the sniper that was in front of the hotel, trying not to let either one see me as they were concentrated to where Misao and Kazuma were.

I made a serious face, _'So Misao lured Kazuma here so that she can have these guys kill him… I can't believe she would go this far,' _I thought with sorrow, _'Too bad she doesn't know that he won't get killed that easily.'_

I saw all the hit men on the ground form themselves in a single line on the side hotel that Misao and Kazuma went to, waiting for their signal and hidden from Ayano or Ren's sight. Those two were near the pole of the entrance, spying on Misao and Kazuma. Ayano became pissed because they were at a hotel and began melting the pole in anger. Ren became scared once again.

"This is… unforgiveable!" Ayano yelled as she started walking towards the entrance. Ren tried pulling her back to keep them from being seen. I just sighed.

Suddenly, I realized that the other sniper on top of the building on the right side of the hotel was looking straight at me as he got his weapon facing me instead of Kazuma.

Shit…

I reacted quickly. Flames bursted from my boots as I hovered high so that nobody would notice me. I then landed on the building where the sniper was and knocked him out before he could shoot me.

I was relieved and glanced at the other sniper. He still didn't notice me. He was waiting to shoot Kazuma, the main target. _'That was close…'_

I looked at Misao and Kazuma. I was just in time to see Misao leave Kazuma' side and walk a few steps back from him. She said something to him before bowing.

I was too late. The sniper shot at him a few times. The force caused him to hit his back on the wall of the hotel.

The hit men went in front of Kazuma in their line and shot at him several times. After that, they stopped, pulled the pins from the grenades that they were holding and threw them at him.

I closed my eyes for a bit, not wanting to see what they were doing, even though I knew that it would take a lot more guns and grenades to kill him. I waited for the right time to show myself.

I felt a small breeze. I opened my eyes and saw Kazuma, okay and unharmed. He had appeared behind the sniper in the building and knocked him out. He saw me and gave me a thumb's up for taking down the other one. I smiled and did the same before he disappeared.

I leapt on top of the love hotel and looked down as Ayano and Ren appeared in the entrance of the gate, surprising Misao.

Ayano was talking seriously to Misao. Misao then said she was confident that Kazuma was dead and that it was a good thing that Ayano and Ren were they to collect his remains. Ayano knew though that Kazuma couldn't die that easily.

Misao gasped as she looked to see that Kazuma wasn't where he should have been once the smoke cleared.

A big gust of wind came out of nowhere, taking in all the hit men, as Kazuma appeared without a scratch. Once the wind disappeared, the hit men fell from the sky and each of them landed hard onto the ground. They were all unconscious.

Misao grabbed her phone and was dialing. She was probably calling one of the snipers.

"Don't bother. I already had a talk with your rooftop sniper," Kazuma said. Misao cringed, but smirked as she was about to dial the other one, "Don't bother with the other one either," I yelled as Misao, Ayano and Ren looked around to see who said that and finally saw me on the roof.

They were all surprised except for Kazuma. I jumped off the building and hovered slowly down the ground before landing safely. I stood in between Kazuma and Misao. One hand was on my hip, "I took him out before Kazuma did the same with the other sniper…"

"What? How could you-?" Misao started to angrily say before I cut her off, "I sensed them following us when we were walking, which is why I decided to leave you to see who they were actually following… and it was you. I've been waiting on top of the buildings to see what they were going to do and once I saw you with Kazuma, I knew," I paused for a bit as nobody said anything, particularly Misao. I shook my head before looking at her and continuing, "I am very disappointed with the way you've been acting… I even told you not to do anything that you'll regret."

Misao spoke with no remorse, "I know. I don't regret what I did because he has to pay. That plan was supposed to work!"

"Don't feel too bad. It was a good idea in theory. I was almost surprised, although you didn't fool Karai apparently," Kazuma said, walking right next to me. He spoke to Misao, "And weapons are more effective than your magic. Only thing is, you'll need more guns."

It became quiet, until Kazuma spoke again, "You've changed, huh? Did I make you this way?" I was confused as to why he would say this, but I remembered what happened years ago, _'Oh yeah, I can't believe I forgot.'_

"Are you serious? You haven't seen me in ten years. You really think you'd know me enough to even ask that?" Misao replied.

"Good point," Kazuma said.

"All right, that's enough with the chatter," Ayano said seriously as she and Ren started approaching her, "Misao, you're coming home with me. You're going to explain everything you've done to my father."

Misao turned around and threw her purse at Ayano, who deflected it with her school bag, as Misao ran out of the entrance. "Hey! Get back here!" Ayano yelled as she and Ren went after her.

Kazuma and I remained behind. He stared at the purse and picked it up, "She's right… ten years."

"Yup," I replied as I placed my right hand on his shoulder.

He turned his head to look at me, "So you remember then?"

I smiled, "Of course. Now don't you think we should go after them?"

He smiled back at me, "Yeah, let's go," He held out a hand, "Want a ride? You must be exhausted from jet streaming all afternoon."

"I'm not, but I'll accept your offer. Thank you," I put my hand in his. He surprised me though. He grabbed my other hand as well and placed both of them on his neck. He then placed his own hands around my waist. "Hang on," he said as we flew off to where Misao, Ayano and Ren were. Kazuma's type of flying didn't bother me since it was almost the same as my jet streaming.

When we finally got to them, Ayano had Enraiha out while Misao produced a flame in her hands. Both of them were ready to fight until Kazuma and I stepped in.

"That's enough. You girls are going to get hurt playing that way," he said as he landed us on top of the roof of a part of the building where the door was, higher than where all three of them were. He let go of me as I stood next to him.

"Look its Kazuma Nii-san and Karai Nee-san!" Ren yelled.

"Oh great… Don't worry Onee-san, I got this under control," Ayano said. I didn't respond to her as I decided to let Kazuma handle this situation for now.

"Look I'm just returning your purse," he said, holding up Misao's purse.

"That's got to be the worst excuse I've ever heard!" Ayano yelled.

"Ayano, you're taking this a little too far," Kazuma said and continued, "Misao didn't do anything to the Kannagi family. She tried to kill me. I don't see how it's any of your business."

"You're missing the point," Ayano said as she de-materialized Enraiha, "Misao is a member of the Kannagi family and her actions reflect on all of us. Don't you get that?"

"No, I guess I don't," he said before jumping in front of Misao. I jumped and hovered in between Ayano and Misao, in case they were about to fight again.

"I mean it. Whatever happened is between Misao and me. So just leave me alone," Kazuma said.

"What? You can't be serious Kazuma! You're talking about a girl who just tried to kill you! And if you don't do anything to stop her, she's going to try again!" Ayano yelled as he grabbed Misao's hand and placed her purse in it.

"And I don't care," Kazuma said to Ayano as she yelled once again, "What?"

"Ayano, just respect his wishes," I said to her as I watched Kazuma and Misao.

"Onee-sama! Why would you allow such a thing to be?" She yelled at me, "You're a head (not literally the body part)! You should see this from my side!"

"Sometimes when you are the head, you have to respect a person's decision even though it's not in your favor," I lectured her, "But if I see things go too far, then I will step in myself. As head of your sister clan."

Ayano looked like she disagreed with my decision, but didn't say anything. She then turned to Kazuma and yelled at him, "Why not? Why don't you care?"

"Because it doesn't matter; she can't even put a scratch on me," Kazuma answered as he looked at Misao.

Misao became angry. She threw her purse to the side and held out her hand, producing a flame. She pushed the same hand onto his chest, but his wind deflected it.

"It's pointless Misao. Can't you see that? Just let it go!" Ren begged her.

"He's too strong for you! You are nowhere near the same level of magic as he does!" Ayano yelled at her.

"How could you?" Misao said, "It's not fair!" She yelled as she continued trying to throw flames onto him, "You killed my brother! You killed him! It's all your fault! You took him from me! You killed my precious Takeya! He was the only person in my family that cared about me! And you killed him! He was the only one that I loved! Why did you kill him? Why did you have to take him away from me?" She kept attacking Kazuma as he kept deflecting it.

I felt sorry for Misao. I don't see how I was an idol to her if I didn't help her as much as I should have or could have. No, I gave her advice… and she didn't take it. It was her own decision on whether she would take it or not. Still…

It started to rain. She sobbed and seeing as how her magic didn't work anymore, she tried to keep punching him. Finally, she stopped and fell on her knees, with her hands on the ground. She screamed in pain from the loss of her brother.

Kazuma took off his jacket and tried putting it on her, but she just shoved it away. It fell to the ground as she continued crying.

She looked up at the kneeling Kazuma with hated in her eyes, "I'll never forgive you for what you've done. Never. And I will do anything it takes to make you suffer like he did," she said coldly.

Kazuma got up and grabbed his jacket, throwing it over his shoulder, "Do what you have to do." He turned around, looked at me for a second to give me a nod of thanks and walked past me.

"Are you ok?" Ren asked Kazuma as he was walking towards him and Ayano. He didn't say anything and just passed by them. Ayano yelled after him, "Hey! Wait! Kazuma!" They followed him down the stairs.

I remained in the same spot I was, staring at Misao. After watching them leave, she looked up at me.

"Do you hate me… for what I tried to do?" She said quietly.

I looked down as I spoke to her, "No, Just disappointed. I thought you were better than that." I walked towards her and kneeled down in front of her as I gave her a hug, "I hope that you'll be able to do what is right this time before you do something that will change your life… for the worse." She doesn't respond.

I released her and stood up. Before I left, I took off my coat and placed it on her, with the hood on her head. She didn't take mine off like she did with Kazuma's, "I'm sorry that I can't help you anymore than I did. I hope what I said helped, though. The rest is up to you. Take care of yourself Misao," That was the last thing I said before I turned around and walked away, leaving her to make her own decision when to leave. She needed time to think. Hopefully things will work out fine. If it doesn't, then I will definitely step in.

I wish I had noticed the evil that was going to influence Misao that would indeed change her life forever.

* * *

**End of chapter! Hope you liked it! As always! X) (Well the ending kind of sucked… but you knew what was going to happen already… x.x)**

_**Also**_**, as always, reviews would be awesome! **


	10. Conflicts

**Chapter 10: Conflicts**

**Hey guys! I decided to post this chapter up early to cheer up EXpERieNCed! **

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma.**

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_**Karai's Point of View**_

I didn't do much during my break last week after what happened with Misao. I got sick for two days after I had given Misao my coat and had nothing to shield myself from the rain. That sucked. It was a good thing Ichiru was able to take care of me.

Once I got better, I mostly went to the meadow and trained there. Ichiru and I managed to go to the café and hang out on Friday, but I wasn't as happy as I would have been. Ichiru even noticed, but didn't say anything, not wanting me to kick his butt.

I even went to the Kannagi house to spend time with Ayano and Ren. I haven't seen Kazuma though, but I knew where he was and that he was safe. I didn't bother him. Misao, on the other hand, went missing. That is the reason I've been kind of bummed out during my vacation. I hope she is doing ok. No use moping around now since my break is finally over.

Once again, I'm back in business with the Kannagi family. Ayano and I are listening to Father as he explained the details of partnership in our mission.

"The rebellion of the Fuga clan has limited our capabilities. Without their tracking skills, we are forced to look elsewhere. Though we must rely on available resources," Jugo explained.

"Fine. I get why we have Karai. She has very good tracking skills, but why do we have to rely on him too?" Ayano complained.

"He is a wind magic user. Although Karai is very good at tracking, Kazuma is much better at it since he is a wind magic user, no offense Karai," Jugo said.

I held up a hand, "None taken."

He continued, "Ayano, do you really believe that you can find the perpetrator on your own? Yes you have Karai with you, but with Kazuma, you are more powerful. You are all going to have to work together in a team. He will do his part to find the enemy while you will defeat them. Karai will help out in both ends. Is that clear?"

"Yes Father," we both said.

"Good. Ayano, give this envelope to Kazuma," He said, handing it to her. She grabbed it.

"Don't worry Father, we'll get the job done," I assured him as I began to stand. Ayano followed as well.

Once we got outside, I slid the door closed and turned towards Ayano, "Ok, so you go look for Kazuma and give him the details. Afterwards, meet me at the café."

"Wait a minute! Why do I have to go by myself? Can't you just go with me?" She asked kind of annoyed that she had to go inform Kazuma by herself.

"I have to meet Ichiru in the café to discuss something," I said as I started walking and paused, glancing at her, "but if you want, you can drop me off at the café before going to his hotel."

"Fine by me," She muttered as she went beside me and we walked to the train station.

It didn't take that long before we were at the café. Once we got there we saw Nanase and Yukari, Ayano's friends.

"Hey guys, what are you doing here?" Ayano asked her friends.

"We were just getting some cappuccinos until we bumped into you here," Nanase said.

They both looked at me, "Who is she?" asked Yukari.

I smiled, "I'm Karai Uchiha, Ayano's half-sister. Nice to meet you."

They are both surprised. "You're that Karai?" Nanase said to me before looking at Ayano, confused, "I thought you hated her Ayano?"

My eye twitched a bit while Ayano was getting all nervous, "Well I used to, but not as much anymore after we found out that we were related."

"Well, that's good that you're getting along," Yukari said, "So where are you headed?"

"I was just going inside the café to meet my cousin while Ayano goes to meet with someone," I said.

"Oo, is it that boyfriend of yours Ayano?" Nanase said slyly.

Ayano started to blush and yelled, "He is not my boyfriend! He is my sister's!"

I sighed, "He's just my best friend."

"Whatever! I'm going now! I'll see you later Onee-sama!" She said as she stomped off.

I chuckled from her childish behavior, "That Ayano."

"Don't worry, we'll go with her," Yukari said as they both ran off to go after her.

"Ok, take care of her!" I yelled as their figures began to fade away. I shook my head and went inside to meet with Ichiru.

_**Five Minutes Later…**_

"Haha, so you let Ayano go by herself? Knowing that she might kill Kazuma?" Ichiru laughed before taking a sip of his cappuccino. We were both sitting at a table enjoying our drinks.

I took a sip of mine as well, "Yup. I don't feel like getting in the way of their bickering."

"You can be so evil sometimes, you know that right?" Ichiru said smiling.

"I know," I said as I winked at him.

We continued chattering for about an hour already. Ayano was supposed to show up soon. Suddenly I felt some strange aura that I knew Ichiru could feel as well.

"Let's go check it out," I said. We got up, paid our check, threw out our empty cups and went outside.

When we got outside, something looked _very_ different. As we looked around, there was _nobody_ in sight. When we turned around and saw that there was nobody inside the store as well.

"What is going on?" I said, very confused.

"Your guess is as good as mine…," Ichiru said, looking around.

"The atmosphere feels strange," I said.

Suddenly slime started oozing out of buildings, the streets and trees. Basically, it was coming out from everywhere.

"What the hell is that stuff?" Ichiru yelled as we backed up into each other.

"I don't know! But we have to do something!" I materialized Kaito Enraiha to my hand and started attacking the slime. Ichiru shot out flames at the slime in another direction.

As the slime kept coming towards us, we kept attacking it. It was getting nowhere. We shot out some more flames before going back to back with each other, panting from using up lots of energy.

"What now? It just keeps coming back! If we keep this up, we'll just tire ourselves out!" Ichiru yelled as we started attacking again.

I shot out a stream of flames at the slime again, "Ok, I got something. We'll build up our power and release it while holding hands and spinning to get the slime in all directions. What do you think?" I said as I struck some more slime.

"Sounds like a plan. Let's do it!" Ichiru yelled.

We both shot attacks one more time before going back to back again. Ichiru held his hands up and I held up my sword as we both built up our flames. The slime was almost near us before we were ready to attack.

"Ready?" I tell Ichiru.

"Yup! Let's go!" He said as we grabbed each other's arms. Ichiru released his flames in his free arm as I did with my sword while we spun, releasing a combo attack everywhere, hitting the slimes. We stopped spinning when we used up all our power that we built up and saw the slime disappearing as well as the strange atmosphere fading away. People were around once again.

"That… was weird…," Ichiru said, scratching his head while we just stood in the middle of the street.

"No kidding," I said as I tried sensing where the slime was coming from and found the location. Ichiru and I looked at each other, knowing where we were headed to. We started running in the direction where the source of the slime came from, which was the park.

We turned right into a path in the park and I stopped abruptly as my eyes widened. Ichiru stopped right next to me. Misao was standing in front of the bench, consumed in a black and evil aura. Kazuma and Ayano, wielding Enraiha in her hands, were arguing about Misao being their business.

Misao noticed me during their conflict, "Why Karai-sama, Ichiru, good of you to come. We were just having a conversation of how I am becoming strong enough to kill Kazuma."

Kazuma and Ayano look in the direction where Ichiru and I were standing. They were surprised to see us there. I don't look at them as I stared at Misao.

Anger began to fill me, but I remained calm, "So that slime was your doing? You were the one who killed all those innocent people? What the hell is wrong with you Misao? Your revenge against Kazuma is blinding you! I thought you were smarter than this!" I scolded her, trying to keep my temper down as Ichiru stood next to me. I really thought she knew better than to do something like this. I didn't even think she would do something so heinous, and all for revenge.

"I don't care. I will accept the consequences of absorbing the energy of the lives of many to avenge my brother's death. Kazuma must pay." Misao said emotionlessly.

Ayano growled and yelled, "You're going to pay for this Misao! Nee-san, I'll take care of her!"

"Ayano, leave this to me," Kazuma argued.

"No, I am a member of the Kannagi family," Ayano argued back at him.

Kazuma went to Ayano and placed his hand on her hands to try to hold her down, "I said forget it."

"Let go!" Ayano yelled, trying to get out of his grasp but he doesn't let go as he replied, "I won't."

Ayano gets mad and consumes herself in her fire. That's when he let go and backed off from the heat, "Dammit Ayano!"

I was getting pissed off at them, "Guys! This isn't the time to argue!"

Misao giggled, "I hate to interrupt, but I got to get going. You obviously need to sort this out between yourselves."

"Misao!" I yell at her.

"Wait!" Kazuma yelled at her too.

"I don't have enough power to defeat you yet so there really is no point in staying, but I'll see you soon Ayano. Goodbye Kazuma. Goodbye Ichiru… and Karai," She said as she started to fade away.

Ayano tried to hit her with Enraiha and yelled, "You're not going anywhere!" but she was too late. Misao disappeared.

"Nicely done," Kazuma said.

Ayano pointed Enraiha at him, "What's wrong with you? You let her go!"

"Well that's not exactly how it happened, isn't it? I was trying to talk to her first-," Kazuma said before getting cut off by Ayano, "Look! I'm not an idiot! If you actually wanted to stop her, then she wouldn't have gotten away so easily! Our family has a duty to make sure Misao pays for what she's done! And if you try to interfere-!" She yelled as Kazuma cut her off too, "Just who the hell do you think you are talking to, little girl?" He said with cold eyes as Ayano flinches a bit, "If you really want to stop me, then try using your power, not your mouth."

He stopped the flames from Enraiha with his wind magic, "Anytime you think you can handle it, you got an invitation." They kept on glaring at each other intensely.

I decided to stop the conflict before it got any worse. I materialized Kaito Enraiha to my hand, walked in front of them and placed my sword in between them. "Kazuma, Ayano, that's enough. We can't stop Misao with all this fighting. We've got to work together, as a team. Stop this foolishness. Now."

Kazuma looked at me with the same intense eyes that he was giving Ayano, "Karai, you should stay out of this."

I looked at him without any fear, "I won't."

He started to get irritated by me, "This is between me and this brat right now. I don't need you helping me out anymore. I can take care of my own problems now."

"I know that, but now things have gone too far. Now I know that if a problem is related with Misao or Ayano, especially if it's with you, then it is my business as well and I will be involved in it," I said to him, not backing off, "Besides, none of this would have happened if you hadn't provoked Misao in the first place. Also, arguing with Ayano isn't helping."

"I know. I shouldn't have done that. I admit, it's partly my fault that Misao ended up like this, which is why I should be the one to fix it," Kazuma said while pointing at Ayano, "And it's her fault for thinking she can talk to me like that."

"Hey, you're the one-," Ayano started to yell back at him but I cut her off, "Guys, knock it off already! We aren't going to stop Misao at this rate!" They both 'hmphed' at the same time.

I shook my head in disbelief and faced Kazuma, "Whether you like it or not Kazuma, Misao is all our business and we all have to fix this ordeal together."

Kazuma glared at me and turned around, "Whatever," he said as he walked a few steps before disappearing in a gust of wind.

"Wow… He really did change a lot," Ichiru said, annoyed with the way he acted towards me.

I was a bit peeved off and hurt as well with the way Kazuma said that to _me_, his best friend. I decided not to think about it as I de-materialized Kaito Enraiha from my hand.

Ayano looked down in sorrow, "Aw great, what am I supposed to do now?" I placed a hand on her shoulder, "Don't worry, I'm still here," I said giving a small smile at her.

She looked at me and smiles a bit as well, "Thank you… Onee-san."

"What are we going to do now Karai?" Ichiru asked as he walked towards us.

I looked at him, "You go back to the household. Ayano and I will go back to the Kannagi house and explain what has happened here and take care of this mess."

He pouted, "Aww, I wanted some action as well."

I rolled my eyes at him and sighed, "Sorry Ichiru, next time. You have other things to do."

He sighed in defeat as we all headed for the train station.

* * *

We were at the Kannagi household once again. Ayano, Ren and I were on one row facing Father while members of the Ogami family were in the other.

"You're telling us to keep away from Misao?" Ayano repeated what Father said to us. Even me, which made me surprised.

He nodded, "I know you can handle it Karai, but we've come to the conclusion that her fate should be left in the hands of the Ogami family. This is our final decision."

"As Misao's father, I can assure you we'll handle this properly," Misao's father said.

"But I know we can do this," Ayano pleaded to Father.

"That's not an option. The Ogami's are too valuable to us to risk losing their allegiance," Father explained to us.

"So that's how it is?" Ayano said, "You're going to write off your own daughter for selling her sell to the yoma? And then what? You're just going to pretend that she never existed at all?"

"Misao chose to become an orphan. She's no longer my daughter because she is no longer human. She is now an abomination. By taking the lives of innocents, she brought shame to her family and the only recourse is to annihilate her from this world," Misao's father said.

"Kill her?" Ren said in surprise.

"How can a father say that to his own daughter?" Ayano said sadly.

I was pissed off, "Of course she is still human. It is what she was created as. You probably never even acted like a real father to her which is why she felt the only one who did love her was her brother. She is just in pain from the loss of the only one who was there for her. I am not excusing her from her actions, but she wouldn't have done this if it wasn't for you! You can't be her father because if you were, you would be trying to help her instead of just destroying her!"

Misao's father didn't say anything, as did everyone else. Father didn't want me to get even madder than I already was so he continued on, "We have a new partner. With their investigative assistance, we are making every effort to find Misao."

"A new partner?" Ayano said kind of stunned.

"That's right. Even though Karai's family has good tracking skills, their fighting skills are more superb and it is better to have many resources. Once this source is able to pinpoint her location, the Ogami will deal with her immediately," Father said.

"Master, I've been informed that you had originally hired Kazuma Yagami for this. Has it been brought to his attention that his services will no longer be needed?" Misao's father asked.

"I've already told him that he will be removed from the case, but he warned me that he would still proceed despite any repercussions," Jugo replied to him.

I knew that Kazuma still would, after feeling that he is still in debt to her.

"Master Jugo, even if we mobilized all of our available resources, we cannot afford the distraction of Kazuma interfering," Misao's father said, "In theory, we won't be able to focus on destroying her. I strongly urge you to do whatever it takes to stop him."

"Father, please allow me to do it," Ayano asked as she stood up.

"Are you sure?" Father replied to her.

"Ayano, no," Ren said worriedly.

"If you let me, I will stop Kazuma Yagami," Ayano confidently said.

"Very well then," Jugo said.

"The Ogami family might not be strong enough to take down Misao," I said, standing up next to Ayano, "If it comes to that, I will try to take her down myself."

"If it does come to that, then you may. Is that all right with you Masayuki?" Jugo asked him.

"There's no problem with that, but I believe we will be able to stop her ourselves," he said.

A servant comes in a gives Jugo the phone, "Hello? Yes. All right then, they will be on their way," He said before hanging up the phone.

"They have found her location. You should all go to meet our new partner now," Jugo said.

"All right, then," I said before leaving for the door, "Let's go.

* * *

We were at the building where we were to meet the Kannagi family's new partner. Once we got to the room, I immediately recognized who the person was near the computers. She had blond hair that was held up and a purple dress that went to her thighs.

"Good evening, all of you," the familiar person said as Masayuki stood next to her and Ayano, Ren and I stayed near the side. She showed us the computers pinpointing Misao's location, "From what we could gather, we know that Misao is hiding at in this church."

"And you're certain of this?" Masayuki asked.

"Positive. Our information network is very reliable. Our men are in the process of setting up a perimeter around the block to keep people away. It will be ready in five minutes. Be sure you are ready to move."

"We will be," He said before leaving the room with the rest of the Ogami family members.

The woman noticed that we were still there and looked at us.

"So then I'm guessing you're the new outside help that our Father's partnered with?" Ayano said to the woman.

"Yeah, I guess you so," she said walking in front of us, "Section chief metro police special investigations unit, Detective Kirika Tachibana. It is nice to properly meet you Ayano. And it's nice to meet you too Ren."

"Who, me?" Ren said surprised that she knew who he was.

"Your Kazuma Yagami's younger brother, aren't you?"

"Yeah, that's right."

She smiled once she looked at me, "Nice to see you again Karai."

I smirk, "You too as well. Long time no see, Kirika."

Ayano is surprised, "Karai, you know her?"

I nod, "She helps me with cases every now and then."

Ren made a face which Kirika notices, "What's up with that face Ren?"

"Guess I'm kind of surprised. I've heard rumors about the police involved in spiritual cases, but I didn't think that it was really true."

"We don't exactly have the resources to compete with the Kannagis or the Uchihas, but we have our purpose. And besides─," She said before getting cut off by Ayano, "Now that the Fuga clan's gone, you can take over the investigating. That is what you were going to say, right?"

She smiled, "It was, but it's also important to maintain a good relationship with the Kannagis as we are with the Uchihas."

"Really? Karai is this true?" She said looking at me.

"Yup, like I said, they help us whenever we need it. I'd rather have their help than the Fuga clan."

"So if either of you are interested in working part-time, let me know," Kirika said to Ren and Ayano.

"So is that what you were doing with Kazuma the other day when I saw you? Recruiting?" Ayano asked her. I sweat dropped, _'So Kirika is the __**other woman **__that Ayano was talking about…'_

Kirika laughed, "Is that what it looked like I was doing? Were you hoping that I would reassure you that I was only discussing business with him?"

Ayano started making a fuss, "Why would I care? That's not what I was asking!"

"Is that so? Then there is no need for me to tell you," Kirika said.

I sighed as Ayano kept arguing with Kirika. I didn't want to hear what Kirika was saying about being with Kazuma because I knew that it wasn't true. Ren was just confused with what was going on. I decided to go down already to get ready as back-up.

"Umm, I think I'm going to go ahead," I said as Ayano started getting calm again, "Ayano, be careful when taking care of Kazuma, will you?"

"Of course I will! I can hold my own against him!" Ayano said to me.

I smile at her, "Good luck then," I said before turning around. I was about to leave when I heard Ayano, "Wait Onee-san!"

I turn my head and wait for what she was going to tell me, "Be careful yourself."

I nod and leave the room, going downstairs. Once I was out of the building, I walked to the area where the church was which where Misao was hiding. Masayuki and his members were in the center of the area, waiting for the command to go. I leaned against a tree waiting as well.

A few minutes later, Masayuki and his group move forward to the church, meaning that they got the order to go. I got off the tree and followed after them, but stayed a distance near the trees, trying not to interfere even though I wanted to. They stopped in front of the steps as the doors to the church opened. Misao came out and walked to the top of the steps.

"Welcome everyone. It's nice to see you all. It's been awhile," She said, bowing to them, "Glad you can be here Father. There I thought I might not see you again," She said.

"Shut your mouth! Despite the decisions you made with your life, I still raised you and this is how you repay me? It's unforgiveable to imagine that you would willingly jeopardize the existence of the Ogami family. How dare you look me in the eye and call me your father!" Masayuki said.

I just shook my head with what he was saying. _'It was because of the way he raised her that she ended up this way.' _

"Well I most sincerely apologize, but out of curiosity, where is Kazuma? Isn't he here?" Misao asked.

"This has nothing to do with him."

"Well, what about Karai? She looked furious when she saw what I was doing. I would think that she would come here." I gave her a slight glare after hearing her talk about me even though she couldn't see me.

"You will not address Lady Karai in that manner with the way you are now! She shouldn't have to deal with someone like you!"

"Then where is Ayano? I can't imagine her staying home and passing up the chance to destroy me."

"Ayano has better things to do than waste her time on you."

"That's funny… Because she seemed so envious of me, I just knew that she would be here. Maybe it was my imagination, but I think she hated the fact that Kazuma paid more attention to me," Misao said. In my mind, I face-palmed my head, but in reality, I sighed. Ayano is probably stomping her way down here by now.

I felt Kazuma's presence as a breeze started to fill the air, _'I guess it's time for Ayano to do her part now.'_

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_**There's chapter 10! **

**Next chapter will be up either next week or the week after!**


	11. The Consequences of Power and Revenge

**Chapter 11: The Consequences of Power and Revenge**

**Sup guys? Finally posting up chapter 11! ^^ This is the longest chapter out of all the ones I've written! It's basically like two chapters :D Whoop! I couldn't figure out what to name the chapter so I kept changing it over and over again -_- In the end, I just left it to the original title. **

**After this chapter, though, I will be writing something else and not the Ayumi episodes, but it will be happening at the same time as the events in chapters 13-16. Sorry if that disappoints you, but that is the way I wanted to write it. **

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma.  
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**Enjoy!**

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_**Karai's Point of View**_

I heard Ayano yell in the direction of the building I came out of while I was watched Misao talk with her father. She was probably fighting Kazuma right now. I turned my head and saw Ayano jump off the building. I shrugged and looked in the direction of the church once again.

My eyes widened. I turned back quickly to look at Ayano again and tried to comprehend what I just saw; Ayano… _jumped off… _the building. My head went down and I sweat dropped as I sighed at her impulsiveness.

She swung her sword as it shot flames at Kazuma while he blocked them. Ayano would have probably fallen to her death if Kazuma hadn't caught her… then yet again, he dropped her, but I couldn't see where since the trees were blocking my view of them. I sighed, turning back my focus on Misao, knowing that those two would be okay. I don't care if Ayano kills him right now because I'm still a bit peeved off at him.

"Do you think this is a joke?" Masayuki said holding out his hand with his flame erupting from it.

Misao smiled and conjured up her own fire, which was now an evil dark purple. Misao's father and the other relatives threw their fire at her, but she surprised them by sending off a powerful attack that shot up to the sky, deflecting theirs and hitting them directly. They died instantaneously.

I was shocked to see all of Misao's family members _dead _on the floor, just like that; their blood spreading around their bodies in the cold cement. Misao stood there, proud of what she had done. I pitied them for dying in such a cold-blooded way, especially by their relative, who, deep inside, is a kind-hearted girl. She was just in pain. I knew that I not only have to stop her, but save her.

I left my spot and revealed myself to Misao in the open as I walked towards her.

"Ah Karai," She smiled, "So you came after all. I knew you would of course. Now that just leaves Ayano and Kazuma."

I walked past the dead bodies of the Ogami family and stopped in the same spot Masayuki was previously. He now laid on the floor to my right. I smirked a bit, "I never thought you had it in you to murder your own family," my smirk faded away as my face became serious, "but I guess that is what happens when you are so bent on revenge."

"Of course, Karai; I don't consider them to be my family, so it was a piece of cake. Focusing on revenge has made me stronger. You yourself became stronger to avenge your own loved ones and it worked out," Misao said.

I shook my head, "No. That was completely different. Yes, I wanted to get the one who killed my family, but I was able to do the right thing. I didn't kill innocent people. My parents would have wanted me to get stronger my own way and to kill the yoma so that it wouldn't kill anyone or even sacrifice any more people and that's what I did. Your brother would have wanted you to do the same. He wouldn't like it if he knew that you killed innocent people to get stronger."

"Shut up!" Misao yelled at me, clenching her fists.

"The thing is though… you haven't gotten stronger at all," I told her.

"I'll show you!" Misao growled as she conjures up another huge evil flame and shot it at me. I held up my hand that was consumed with my flame and deflected her attack with my powerful one.

"I know that I didn't help you really before besides give you advice, but let me help you be stronger now Misao! Not for revenge, but to move on with your life! Let me save you before things get worse!" I yelled at her, "This isn't the way to do it!"

"I don't need any saving! My guardian angel has already done that by helping me become strong! If you want to help me since you say that you owe me, you would kill Kazuma for me!" She summoned several fire balls and shot them at me again, but I hovered up before her attack could hit me. I did a flip in the air going towards Misao and shot out some flames at her with my hand as I was upside down and landed in the entrance of the door. She repelled my attack and turned around to face me.

I swung my hand to the side, materialized Kaito Enraiha, and got into battle stance, "How are you going to defeat Kazuma when you can't even defeat me? Face it. Whoever this _guardian angel _is, he lied to you. He probably said what you wanted to hear, not what was truly right."

She got very mad and started throwing fireballs in every single direction. I blocked her attacks with my sword as she kept at it. During her rage, she also shot at the top of the church. She didn't notice, but I saw a piece of the church that Misao hit coming down, straight for her. Without thinking, I pushed Misao to the side and before I knew it, I blacked out once again.

_**Everyone's Point of View**_

Misao was on the floor where Karai pushed her. She looked at Karai as she was out cold in the floor in front of her, blood coming out of her head. A piece of the building that was as big as a basketball had hit her head when it fell and a piano-sized one was on her, but didn't crush her. It stopped just in time when it hit the ground and leaned on the wall.

'_She actually took the hit for me?" _Misao shockingly thought. She shook her head, _'No, it doesn't mean anything! She was stupid to do that!' _She got up and stood in front of the steps. Her back was facing the knocked out Karai. She felt a very small pang of guilt, but got it out of her mind… well most of it.

Ayano and Ren came up the steps leading to the church and stopped when they saw all the dead bodies on the floor.

"W─what happened here?" Ayano said, horrified with the scene before her.

"This is awful!" Ren replied in the same fashion as Ayano.

"How could she…," Ayano said glancing at Misao. Her eyes widened when she saw the figure of her older sister just a few feet from behind Misao, out cold on the ground, "Oh my god… no. It can't be," Ayano put a hand to her mouth. Ren noticed too and was shocked. They were both speechless.

"Did you really have to kill them?" Kazuma said flying in and landing in front of the dead bodies, "You made a serious mess and you seem pretty comfortable considering you just wiped off your remaining relatives."

"Like I told Karai, it was easy since I don't consider them to be my family. How can I feel any connection to somebody so desperate to impress their superiors that they'd try to kill their own daughter?" Misao told him, "The only true family I had─," "Is your brother Takeya, right?" Kazuma finished for her.

"Yes. My brother who you killed in cold blood," the dark aura surrounded her once again, "I now finally harnessed enough power to have my vengeance," Misao said.

Kazuma looked at her, "Fine… By the way, what did you mean that you already told Karai? I don't see her around," Misao just smiled at him.

"Kazuma."

Kazuma turned around to see who said his name and it was Ayano. Both she and Ren looked like something bad has happened as he saw her finger pointing in Misao's direction, "What's wrong with you two?"

"Look," Ren said. Kazuma looked in Misao's direction and noticed who was behind her. His eyes widen as he saw his best friend unconscious and immediately became raving mad.

"Misao, what have you done?" Kazuma angrily said, clenching his fists.

"It's not my fault she went in my way when the rubble that is on top of her now was aiming for me. She could have saved herself a lot of trouble by letting me die already," Misao calmly answered. Kazuma, Ayano and Ren can't believe what they just heard.

Ayano became furious, "She risked her life for you and you can't even show a bit of gratitude?"

"You have truly changed after all… and it's my fault," Kazuma said with remorse, "Karai wouldn't be in that condition if it wasn't for me."

"Yes it is," Misao said as the evil purple aura surrounded her, "and now the moment has come for you to pay for my brother's death." Like she did with Karai, she conjured up her flame and threw it straight at Kazuma. He surrounded himself in a gust of wind and deflected her unsuccessful attack.

She growled from her unaffected attack, "All right, how about this?" She summoned several balls of fire and shot them at him. He put up a wind shield to keep them from hitting him.

She hesitated and took a few steps back, "There's no way that he could have survived that…"

"Come on," Ayano said, "You honestly believe that you have enough power to kill Kazuma? If it were that easy, I would have already done it. I bet you couldn't even put a scratch on Karai either. I mean, she got injured because of some concrete that fell because of your power, not your power itself."

Ren looked at Ayano, "Ayano…"

"You've gotten stronger, but you're not even powerful enough to fight Ren. Yet somehow you actually think you could defeat Kazuma? That's pretty pathetic," Ayano told Misao.

"That's enough! You don't even know what you are talking about! Not you or Karai! I can defeat him!" she protested, "My guardian angel promised me that I have enough power!"

"Your guardian angel?" Ayano questioned, "What delusional pervert told you that?"

"You're such a rude little girl," said an unfamiliar voice that walked out of the church.

Misao turned to look at him with joy, "My guardian angel! You're here!"

Ayano, Kazuma and Ren stared at the figure standing next to the body of Karai. He looked like a mere child with blond hair, green eyes and strange clothing on.

"An angel? Seriously?" Ayano said, not believing it.

Misao turned around and kneeled before him. She looked up at him, "Help me, my angel. Please offer me your wisdom and guidance. I must not be using my powers properly. Oh please show me how to take my revenge."

The mysterious boy looked down at her, "Misao, that'll never happen." Her eyes widen from shock as he continued, "There's no way someone like you can defeat Kazuma Yagami. I mean, you couldn't even defeat Karai Uchiha whose powers are superior to his through years of training. Therefore, it's simply impossible."

She started to freak out, "But you….! I don't understand! You said that I had absorbed enough energy! You said I was ready!"

"So I did," he said kneeling down to her level and placing a hand on her head, "The truth is, your ability to harness and control energy is determined at birth. It's sweet that you put your faith in me, but you'll never be able to use the power that you collected. You must have known that you come from a family of magic users. You've just ignored reality, haven't you?"

"This can't be… You promised! You told me that I could!" She protested as she began to lose it.

"Hmm, I simply told you everything that you wanted to hear Misao. Never doubt the human capacity of self-delusion. Once they got their mind set on something, they'll believe anything that they want to believe and as long as you agree with them, you can convince them of just about anything," he said before having an eviler look, "Like, for example…"

He moved his face closer to hers and placed his hands on both sides of her face, "There's nothing wrong with what you're doing. It's not a sin if your wish is pure. The desire for vengeance is righteous in God's eyes."

Her eyes widened from realization of what she has done and she started to cry as he continued, "You can do anything you want because your wish is the only thing that matters. Slaughter hundreds of innocent people; their lives are insignificant in compared to your revenge. Why, you could even murder your entire family if they get in your way. God himself says it's so."

She leaned back to get his hands away from her face and became frantic, "Please no! That can't be! It's not true!"

"But you believed it didn't you?" he said, "You took the lives of hundreds… and you did it for nothing."

"No! Why? Karai was right all along! I always looked up to her and I didn't even follow what she had told me! Why didn't I listen to her?" She shouted and screamed, "_No_!" She wasn't able to take it anymore and fainted.

Ayano and Ren start running toward her, "Misao!" "Get away from her!"

Before they knew it, a dark power sent them flying back and falling on their butts in front of Kazuma.

"That aura is really vicious," Ayano said nervously.

"That's all the energy that Misao gathered. It's the collected energy of her victims that she can't control while unconscious. Now it's pouring out of her like somebody squeezing liquid from a sponge," Kazuma explained, "And now this guy standing right there is soaking it up and harnessing it for himself." The mysterious person now possessed the aura that Misao once had.

"So you suckered her into doing your dirty work?" Kazuma asked him.

He answered, "That was the plan. I needed a medium strong enough to harvest the energy for me, like a Kannagi. It was truly a fortunate coincidence that Misao and I wanted the power to defeat you, Kazuma."

Ayano and Ren stood up as Kazuma spoke to the guy, "Is that so? Wanna tell me why?"

"Forgive me. I still haven't introduced myself. My name is Michael," he said while he bowed down like a gentleman and went back up, "Michael Harley. I have been selected to defeat you and nothing will stop me. Tonight you will die in the name of stars and wisdom."

"Wait, what?" Kazuma said in surprise, "In the name of stars and wisdom?"

"That's right. You may have well overheard my master say that before since you are actually related to him. I'm quite certain it sounds familiar to you. Think hard Kazuma. You cannot bare your feelings forever."

Kazuma suddenly remembered.

**(Flashback)**

_A man was standing before a woman with long brown hair that was put up in a ponytail who was held by red strings in a strange, dark room, "Let my words be heard. In the name of stars and wisdom, I shall pursue only the truth."_

**(Flashback Ended)**

Kazuma's hands clenched from remembering such a horrid memory; a gust of wind began to surround him, "Thank you for reminding me and to show my appreciation, how about I send you to hell so you can join him!" He shot his wind magic at him, but it doesn't even scratch him.

"I'm afraid I'm not going anywhere Kazuma," he said as Misao's body hovered in the air. The slime that killed all those innocent people appeared and encased her. It formed into a massive dragon which roared and slammed its tail on the church, destroying it.

The large pieces crumbled and were about to drop on Karai which Kazuma noticed. He held up his hand to create a wind shield so they won't fall on her while he waved his other hand, making his wind magic remove the rubble off Karai. He moved his hand holding up the pieces from the church and used his wind to fling them at the dragon which caused it to move back a few steps.

Seeing this as a delay, he flew over to Karai as fast as his wind carried him. He carried her bridal style and flew her to a spot far away from the dragon. He gently placed her down and looked at her injured condition. He clenched his fist, "I'm sorry this happened to you Karai. I'll-, no, we'll stop him and save Misao."

He gave her a kiss on the forehead, "Wake up so you can help defeat this dragon as well," he said softly before going back to where Ayano and Ren ran to.

Ayano looked at him with worried eyes, "Is she going to be all right?"

"Don't worry, she'll be fine," Kazuma said looking up at the dragon that had Misao in it.

Michael laughed, "It is truly magnificent. Would you have ever guessed that you could create a monster out of such a sweet little girl like Misao?" Michael said as he was on top of the dragon's head, "You'll never defeat it Kazuma. Your meager wind magic skills are no match for a dragon. Oh, and be careful, destroying the beast will destroy her too," he finished before going inside of the dragon himself. The dragon roars.

"So, Misao is a part of that thing?" Ayano said nervously.

"Then how are you supposed to attack it without hurting her?" Ren asked.

The dragon shot out the evil dark flame at them, but they each jump back in time.

Kazuma looked at Ayano, "What about the Kannagi's purifying fire? You should be able to use it to burn the dragon without harming her."

"Great idea, but maybe you should come up with a plan that one of us can actually pull off," Ayano said.

"What?" Kazuma said in surprise.

"That kind of magic takes years to master. Only my father and Genma know how to do it," Ayano answered him.

He continued staring at her before he slouched his upper body in annoyance, "You're useless."

"Oh yeah! Look who's talking!" Ayano yelled back angrily, but remembered something, "Wait! Karai should know how to use the Uchiha's purifying flame!"

"Yeah, too bad she's unconscious right now! We don't even know if or when she'll be awake by the time this thing is defeated. Hopefully before," Kazuma said. The dragon breathed fire at them again, making them jump out of the way.

"Ok, are you still serious about trying to save Misao?" Ayano asked him.

"Of course I am. I don't care what happens, but I'm not going to let her die," he answered her.

Ayano looked at him, "But… Kazuma," she started off saying doubtfully, but stopped and finished her sentence confidently, "If you want to stop this thing, then I'd better give it everything I got." She summoned Enraiha to her hand and charged for the dragon.

"Ayano wait!" Ren yelled at her.

She jumped and shot out a huge stream of flames at its head which disappeared, but then regenerated once again.

'_I don't get it,'_ she thought while dodging the dragon's attacks, _'Why does he care so much?'_ She landed and put the tip of her sword on the ground. Fire is released towards the dragon. Its leg burns off, causing it to trip before the leg regenerated, _'What is it about Misao?'_ She charged at it again, _'is it because he is in love with her? He's supposed to be in love with Karai! She deserves him more than Misao and it's so obvious that they are meant for each other! So why?' _

Tentacles from the side of the dragon's head were headed straight for Ayano, but she didn't have enough time to dodge them. She was prepared to take the hit as she closed her eyes, but Kazuma rescued her in time, getting injured in the process without Ayano seeing it.

"Did the bad dragon scare you? Open your eyes."

Ayano finally opened her eyes and saw that Kazuma was holding her, and she realized that he saved her, but couldn't believe it, "Wait, Kazuma?" _'Did he actually rescue me?'_

The dragon sent its tentacles at them again while they were flying off to a safe location. Before it could get to them, Ren sent a stream of fire to block the tentacles.

"Thanks for the hand Ren," Kazuma gratefully said as he continued flying and Ren was fighting off the dragon.

Ayano just looked at him and started to get angry, "Why did you do that? If you want to save Misao so badly, why'd you waste your energy on me?"

He answered, "I don't see any reason why you should have to die for me to save her."

"What? Make up your mind! Who's side are you on?" Ayano demanded as Kazuma landed in a safe place away from the dragon.

"Why are you always talking about sides? I've got the power to protect all of you and that's what I'm going to do."

"Protect all of us? But I thought─," She said before getting cut off, "I didn't acquire this power to let people die. I have a responsibility to protect others now. I'm going to save Misao, but I'm still going to protect you, Ren and Karai. The only person who is going to die is that cocky little bastard back there; is that all right with you?"

"Yeah of course, sounds good to me. Just one question though," Ayano asked.

"What is it?" Kazuma said.

"Why are you so willingly to protect us all?" she curiously asked.

Kazuma paused for a bit and took a glance at the unconscious Karai and back at Ayano, "I made a promise to someone that I will protect everyone, especially that one person… and I intend to keep it," he says confidently.

Ayano's eyes widened, _'Could that promise be for Misao… or Karai? No, it definitely has to be Karai.'_

Suddenly, Kazuma winced and went down on one knee, placing a hand on his chest.

"Kazuma! Are you all right? What's wrong?" She looked where he put his hand on his chest and saw blood dripping, "You're bleeding! This happened when you rescued me, didn't it?"

"It's nothing. I'm ok," he tried to reassure her.

"No you're not, you've been hurt and right now you've got to stop the bleeding and try to recover. Ren and I will hold him off until you get back on your feet ok?"

Kazuma protested, "I can't just leave you two to do this on your own."

"Ayano, Kazuma! Watch out!" they heard Ren yell.

Kazuma and Ayano turned their heads to see the tentacles coming toward them and Ren not being able to block them in time. They both knew that they wouldn't be able to dodge the attack either and so they both closed their eyes, waiting for the impact. Before the tentacles could even reach them, a stream of the divine purple flame sliced the tentacles off. Instead of being regenerated, they drop on the ground and were unable to go back to their original form. The dragon shrieked in pain.

Kazuma and Ayano opened their eyes. They looked at Ren who shook his head and pointed in the direction to their right. Their eyes widen to see Karai holding Kaito Enraiha which possessed the purple flame once again. She looked like she wasn't injured at all, but still panted a bit.

"Karai is awake!" Ayano exclaimed, "Now we can beat this dragon and save Misao!"

'_Thank goodness, she's fine and she woke up just in time,' _Kazuma smiled in relief that Karai was all right and looked at Ayano, "Ayano, go and help out Karai while I heal myself. Just keep him busy. Tell Karai that as well and make sure she doesn't exhaust herself."

Ayano nodded, but before she could go, Kazuma gave her a hug, "I think you're going to be a damn fine woman one of these days kid, just like your sister. I can see her influence on you from the past few weeks."

Ayano blushed, "What do you mean I might turn out to be? Thanks for the lack of confidence, but I already know that I'll be a good woman."

"Guess we'll just have to see. Now give me five minutes, ok?"

"All right, but I'm holding you to that promise of yours," she said as she went off to Karai and Ren.

_**Karai's Point of View**_

My body was aching all over, especiallymy head. I gingerly sat up and opened my eyes. I slowly recalled where I was and found myself in a different location from where I was. I also realized that once again… I had blacked out, _'That is like the third time in less than a month that I fainted! What the hell is wrong with me? Oh yeah… two of the times, I saved someone.' _I sighed, '_this is what I get for being a hero to all.'_

I looked up to see a huge dragon made of that icky slime from earlier. It was in front of the now destroyed church. Ren was fighting off the dragon. He was doing pretty well, but whenever he shot his flames at it, the part that got burnt would regenerate back. I didn't see Ayano and Kazuma anywhere or even Misao.

My energy was still kind of high. It was enough for healing, but not good enough to defeat that dragon on my own. I surrounded myself with my flames to partially heal myself enough to fight.

Once I was done, I searched the area and saw Ayano and Kazuma in a safe distance from the dragon. It looked like Kazuma got injured and Ayano is trying to help him. He'll be fine.

I still didn't see Misao which kind of worried me because I was only able to save her from the falling building pieces. I hope she is ok. I heard Ren yell, "Ayano, Kazuma! Watch out!"

I saw some tentacles shoot out from the sides of the dragon's head. They were headed for Ayano and Kazuma and both were unable to protect themselves in time. Even Ren wouldn't be able to stop the attack.

Suddenly, I had the same protective instincts I had before when we were battling the yoma. I materialized Kaito Enraiha to my hand and swung a stream of fire at the tentacles. My attack sliced them off and to my surprise, they didn't regenerate just like when Ren attacked─, they just dropped on the ground.

I panted a bit and waved my hand at Ren who noticed that I was conscious again. I looked at Kaito Enraiha and was surprised to see that it once again possessed the purple divine flame. _'I guess that whenever I have the need to protect, my flames turn purple. That's pretty cool.'_

I ran to where Ren was─ in front of the dragon that continued to shriek.

"Karai! You're ok!" Ren said happily as he was about to hug me.

"I'm all right Ren, sorry for worrying you. Now's not the time for hugs. Give me the update. Like where the hell did that dragon come from?" I asked him before I could bombard him with questions.

"Well, Misao became unconscious after this guy name Michael Harley, her so-called guardian angel, told her that he was using her. She was so upset that she listened to him over you. She wasn't able to control the energy she collected while unconscious so it leaked out and went into Michael. Now Misao is inside that slime dragon as well as the Harley guy and we need to use a purifying flame to save Misao and if we do destroy the dragon without that kind of flame, she will die!" Ren said in one breath.

I was surprised to hear that Misao was in the dragon. Now we really need to save her if she had seen the error of her ways. I looked at my sword possessing one of the divine flames, "I guess it is a good thing that I have the purple flame right now then. We should probably wait for Ayano and Kazuma though." Just then, the dragon stopped shrieking and breathed fire at us. We both jumped back to avoid getting hit.

"Hey!" Ren and I turned around and saw Ayano coming toward us.

She stopped right in between me and Ren, "You've put up a pretty good fight Ren."

"I'm trying, although, as you saw, Karai Nee-sama had a better effect than any of us had so far," Ren said to Ayano.

"That's good," Ayano said to Ren and looked at me, "How are you doing Onee-san?"

"I'm fine, really. Ren informed me the situation," I assured her and she nodded.

Ren and I noticed the blood on her uniform. "Is that Kazuma's blood?" Ren asked with worry.

"Yeah, but don't worry, he's going to be ok. Your brother's strong. We just have to hold off the dragon just a little bit longer." She then looked at me, "Kazuma also told me to tell you not to strain yourself."

"Hmm, ok then. I guess I shouldn't do anything too extreme," I said getting prepared to attack, "Everyone ready?"

"Yup," they both said.

"I was starting to get worried about you back there," Ren said to Ayano.

"Sorry Ren, but I'm much better now," she said with confidence.

"That's good; now let's take care of this thing!" I shouted.

"Got it!" they both said.

I could feel Kazuma making his contract already which means that he'll be ready soon. We all charged at the dragon. Ayano swung a stream of fire at its neck, but it just goes through. Ren threw fireballs at his head which regenerated back. As for me, I swung my fire at its right wing and it fell right off without regenerating back. The dragon screeched in pain once again.

Ayano was annoyed that her attacks weren't doing anything, "I really wish we could blow up this thing!"

"But that much firepower will kill Misao!" Ren said to her.

"And my flame isn't enough right now to fully purify the whole thing," I explained to them.

We jumped back in different directions to avoid the attack that the dragon threw.

Ayano and I landed near each other. We felt a breeze and knew instantly that Kazuma was behind us. I turned my head to look at him.

"Well that didn't take long," Ayano said.

"I try," Kazuma said with his now blue eyes as he looked at me with concern, "Karai are you all right?"

I nodded at him, "I'm all right. What about you? I saw you injured."

"I'm all healed up now," He said as he smiled with a hint of remorse in his eyes before his face got serious, "Now, what do you say we torch this dragon and pull Misao out of there."

"I won't be able to do it by myself," I told him with a frown.

"Don't worry. Ayano will help you," he said which confused us.

"I thought we established that that is something impossible for me to do," she reminded him.

"We'll see about that," he said and held out his hand. He summoned his wind toward Enraiha which transformed from her normal flame to the blue divine flame. We are both shocked that he could do that.

"What's going on? Blue flame?" Ayano said with a puzzled look, "Am I really harnessing the power of the God's fire?"

"Not to burst your bubble, but it's my power fueling the flame," he told her, making her give an annoyed look as he continued on, "Now show me what you can do with it."

"So it's up to me now? Then just stand back!" Ayano yelled.

"Ayano it's up to the both of us," I said with a sweat drop.

"Umm yeah that's what I meant! Now let's do this!" Kazuma gave her a boost with his wind magic while I jet streamed up. Both of us held our swords, ready to strike the beast.

She stood on its head while I hovered in front of its midsection.

"Now take this!" She stabbed the head, shooting out her temporary flame which went all the way down to its tail. I swung my sword in diagonal directions to form an X on the dragon, hitting it dead on. The dragon became engulfed in blue and purple flames. The creature started to disintegrate and plopped to the ground.

Kazuma flew up to catch Ayano while I landed on the ground in front of the remains of the dragon. I then noticed a blonde kid in the middle of the disintegrated slime. I presumed he was Michael Harley, Misao's "guardian angel."

"Impossible. I collected the energy of a thousand people, but there are only three of them, how could they do this?" Michael complained as he slowly started to die.

I just glared at him for everything that he put Misao through as Kazuma and Ayano landed, "Tell me how! There's no way the three of you could be this powerful! Humans could never have done this." He then noticed Kazuma's azure eyes.

"Your eyes! No! You can't be the contractor! Kazuma, how could you be the one the Spirit King of the wind entrusted with the contract? It doesn't make sense! You─you bastard!" That was the last thing he said before he was burned by the fire and died.

Ayano went to see how Ren was doing because he fainted before we defeated the dragon.

Misao was on the ground. She was alive and… no clothing on as well. It was probably from the slime or the fire destroying her clothing.

Kazuma stood in front of her while I kneeled down before her.

"Wake up Misao," Kazuma said to Misao gently.

Her eyes slowly open as her vision was still adjusting and she saw us, "Kazuma? Karai?"

"We're taking you home," I told her as she started to get up and sat on the ground, hiding her face in shame. Kazuma took off his jacket and put it on her, which she didn't shove away this time.

"Will you please just let me die?" she asked quietly. Kazuma and I look at each other before looking at her.

"Now why would we do that?" I asked her gently.

"Because of the horrible things I've done. That's the only way I can atone for my sins. If I had listened to you in the first place Karai, none of this would have happened," Misao answered sadly, looking up at us.

"Don't give me that. You're not getting out of this that easy. How many hundreds of people did you kill? Do you really think you can wipe the slate clean and atone for all of them by giving up your own life? You're just trying to avoid the guilt and forget what you have done. Well I'm not gonna let you run away from this by dying," Kazuma scolded her.

"But what else am I supposed to do?" Misao said guiltily, "Is it even possible to make amends for committing such a terrible sin?"

I placed my right hand on her shoulder, "There are plenty of other ways to atone."

"I do know how you can get started," Kazuma said, "First you need to forget the dead and straighten out your priorities. You caused me and Karai the most trouble so we're number one on your payback list. That means you need to find some way to make it up to us."

She blushed a bit from accidently showing her cleavage which she covers up quick. She then looked at us with confidence, "Guess you're right. I've got a whole life of atonement ahead of me and I won't be able to do it if I'm dead. With everything I've done to you, you guys should be first."

"Damn straight," Kazuma said.

"Whatever you want then," Misao told us with a smile.

"I call it even since I owed you," I said to her, "so that's one thing out of the way."

Misao shook her head, "No Karai, I need to do something more than that so if you ever need something, just ask me; that is all I know that I can do for you."

I smiled softly at her, "Ok if that is what you want."

Kazuma kneeled down toward Misao, "All right then why don't we─," He said before Ayano sent a fireball at him with Enraiha, causing him to go back two feet away from Misao and me. I just shook my head, _'Is this really what Kazuma turned into?'_

"Get away from her now!" Ayano yelled at Kazuma for being perverted.

Ren was at her side and tried to simmer her down, "I think you should calm down Ayano."

"Then I can't wait to hear what you think when I turn this jerk into _baarrbbeeque_!" Ayano shouted with a stress mark on her head.

"Ok Ayano calm down, I think he gets it," I told her before looking at Kazuma with a raised eyebrow, "Do you?"

"Yes! I'm sorry!" Kazuma said holding up his hands to protect himself.

I sighed, "Ok guys, let's go see Kirika and then it's back to the Kannagi house," I said as Misao and I stand up. Kazuma's jacket didn't really help cover her so I took off mine and let her use it.

_**Few Days Later…**_

Father had told us that Misao is now staying in a nunnery close by. We wanted to see how she was doing so we decided to visit her. Ayano, Ren and I invited Kazuma since we knew that he probably wants to see her too.

It was a nice cloudy day as the snow gently fell from the sky. Instead of my usual jacket, I used one with long sleeves since it was cold.

Kazuma didn't really speak to me since the incident with Misao. I wonder why. I almost forgot though that I was mad at him, but I had already let it go.

We waited at the entrance for Misao to show up and she finally showed herself. She was now wearing a nun uniform.

"Hello Kazuma, Karai," she greeted us.

"Hey," Kazuma said.

"Hi Misao," Ren said.

"Good to see you," Ayano said.

"Hello Misao," I greeted her with a smile. She nodded at all of us as we all left the convent and went on a walk.

"So you decided to run off to a nunnery without saying goodbye?" Kazuma asked.

"Actually, this is what Master Jugo decided for me," Misao answered.

"Jugo? Typical," he said.

"I know praying isn't going to take back everything that I've done. It helps, but it's not enough. Though I guess I have my entire life to figure out how I can make up for it all."

"I see," Kazuma said.

"At least you're trying Misao," I assured her, "That's all that matters."

"Yeah," she said before she stopped walking, "Umm, can I ask you both something? After all the terrible things I did to you Kazuma and how I acted towards you Karai, why did you save me? It would have been so much easier for you to destroy the dragon with me inside of it. So why?"

I smiled at her, "You really don't remember do you?" She just looks at me confused.

"Well it was a really good memory. Not every Kannagi can control their fire. One kid in particular was terrified of it," he recalled.

**(Flashback)**

_A brown-haired boy was once again being bullied by other Kannagi members. His friend that would usually protect him wasn't around so he was alone. They engulfed him in fire and he fell to the ground, trying to get it off him. The other boys laughed._

"_Hey what's the matter Kazuma? Can't stand the fire? Pathetic. Where's little miss Uchiha now when you need her?" the bully in front of him said._

"_Just look at the crybaby, he's worthless. Can't do anything by himself," another bully said._

"_He calls himself a Kannagi?"_

"_Hey, give him a break; he just needs to lighten up." _

_They all start to laugh as the bully in front of him conjured up a flame._

_A little purple-haired girl stepped in front of them, protecting the boy. "Leave him alone! It doesn't matter if he cannot control his fire; he's still a member of our family so quit being mean to him!"_

"_Look, he has another girl protecting him."_

"_What a loser."_

"_You want to repeat that again?" _

_They all turn to see Karai Uchiha in their presence again and get scared, "No we're sorry Karai!"_

"_Get your butts out of here before I fry them!" she yelled at them and threw a small fire in front of them to scare them off._

_Karai and the other girl helped Kazuma up, "Thank you for helping Kazuma. Those guys are so annoying."_

"_It's no problem Lady Karai. It was because of you that I had the courage to do it. Every now and then I see you chasing those bullies off and it made me want to do the same." The purple-haired girl said, smiling._

"_I'm glad that I could make such an impact on you," Karai said with a smile before asking, "What's your name?" _

"_My name is Misao," the purple-haired girl answered, "Well, I got to go now and see my brother; I wasn't supposed to be here in the first place."_

"_Well, thank you again Misao, we hope to see you around soon," Karai said before Misao left. Kazuma just stared at the back of the purple-haired girl who helped his friend save him. _

**(Flashback Ends)**

"Wait, so you're telling me… you saved me because I helped you when we were children?" Misao asked.

"Yeah, guess it's something like that," Kazuma answered.

Ayano is bewildered from this revelation, "What? Is he serious?"

"And the reason that I always thought of you as an idol was because that you always helped Kazuma out?" she asked me.

"I guess so. I didn't really think much of it that much until recently," I told her with a smile. She smiled back at me as we all walk back to the nunnery to say our goodbyes, Kazuma being first.

"Goodbye Misao, I'll drop in alone sometime since you still haven't repaid me," Kazuma said. I shook my head as Misao answered him, "Sure, I'll be here."

Kazuma turned around and left. As he walked past Ayano and Ren, Ayano started scolding him, "Kazuma… you do know that she is a nun now right? Kazuma!" She continued to reprimand him for harassing Misao even though she is a nun already.

I shook my head as I remained behind for a bit.

"So I guess this is goodbye for now Misao?"

"Yeah, I'm sorry again for everything." She said sadly.

"Like I told you before, everything's fine now. You weren't yourself and that is understandable. Well, I'd better catch up to those guys… who knows what they are doing now," I said as I waved goodbye to her and turned to walk to the trio.

"Wait." I turned my head to hear what she wanted to ask me.

She looked at me with soft eyes from how understanding I was, "Thank you again for being there for me even when I disrespected you."

I smiled at her, "You're welcome. I'll drop by soon. Take care of yourself this time," I said before turning around to leave.

We waved once more before I left and power walked to reach the three.

I finally reached them since they waited for me. The two had finally stopped arguing and everyone became quiet. Kazuma force a cough and spoke up, "Ren, Ayano, if it's all right with you, I'd like to talk with Karai… alone."

"What? Are you trying to harass my sister now after your previous choice became a nun? You are such a player! No, even worse! You're such a pervert!" Ayano yelled continuously with a stress mark on her head.

"Sure Nii-san," Ren said while dragging the hot-headed Ayano with him.

I chuckled a bit from Ayano's behavior and looked at Kazuma, "So what's up?"

"I want to apologize for acting the way I did to you when we were at the park a few days ago," he said while rubbing his head, "That was uncalled for."

I smiled at him, "Well, apology accepted. That did hurt, but I know you were in a bad mood."

"Still, I shouldn't have done that. You didn't deserve that," he said shamefully, "You've always been there for me, but I wanted to take care of something on my own for once, but I should have known that whenever I have a problem, you'll always be there, whether I like it or not."

"What's done is done. Just forget about it, but like you said; next time, don't even bother complaining since you know I will help you out when I feel like I'm needed," I said as I entwined my arm with his, "Now let's go catch up with them before Ayano thinks that you are really harassing me… sexually." He looked at me with a smile, knowing that we were in good terms again.

"Hmm, maybe we should let her thoughts be a reality," he grinned as he wrapped an arm around my waist, "How about it?" I rolled my eyes.

I shook my head and nudged his side playfully, "_Kazuma…_"

He chuckled, "Fine, fine. I'll just give you this," He kissed my cheek which made me blush, "but we should go out somewhere one of these days. It can be just you and me with no Ayano or Ren around. I owe you that much. What do you say?"

I looked up at him and smile, "I'd like that very much."

He smiled, "Then it's settled. How about we go somewhere tomorrow?"

I groaned, "Can't. I have some business to take care of for the next few days."

"All right, how about this Friday?" He asked.

I took a few seconds to decide before I answered, "Sure."

Excitement was all over his face as he grinned, "Great."

I smiled as we started walking to catch up to the two, laughing at Ayano's possible reactions.

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**End of the chapter! ^^ Hope you enjoyed it! ;)**

**I really should be studying right now because I got two exams on Tuesday 0.0 CURSE YOU CHEMISTRY AND BIO LAB… AND TUESDAY!**

**The next chapter will be up in a week or two (probably in two weeks)! See you then!**


	12. A Good Day Ruined

**Chapter 12: A Good Day Ruined**

_**Finally**_** updating! xD I was busy these last two weeks with tests which sucked -_- at least they're over… for now.**

**Yeah, the title of this chapter doesn't sound too good O.o I'm not really sure how I did with this chapter… but I hope you all like it. **** (Or maybe not…) I edited it once more last night so hopefully it's better now than it would have been. I am posting it up now because I am probably going to change it even more if I don't do it sooner or later.**

**Anyways, thank you to those who reviewed and others who favorited or put my story in their story alert ^^ Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma**

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_**Karai's Point of View**_

I ran as fast as I could in a never-ending hallway. It was like the door was going farther and farther away. What was I running from? I had no clue. I just felt like I needed to keep running.

Strangely, but finally, I had reached the door. I grabbed the knock and opened the door. I slammed it shut behind me and turned to face the room.

It was dark. In the center of the room, there was a blurry figure holding a huge sword, with the tip on the ground. Violet eyes were staring at me intensely. Looks like the one I was running from found me anyway.

"You finally made it Karai Uchiha. Now it's time for you to die," the figure said emotionlessly. I recognized the mysterious person as a female from the sound her voice.

"Who are you? What do you want from me?" I demanded, getting into battle stance; prepared to take out Kaito Enraiha.

"Who I am is not your concern," the woman said; even though I couldn't see her very well, I noticed her smirk, "What do I want you ask? Why it's so simple. I need… your blood," and with that, she ran towards me so quickly that I knew I couldn't dodge her attack in time. My eyes widened as she was about to slice me and I screamed, "Ahhh!"

I gasped and quickly jolted up the bed. I looked around and saw that I was in my room. It was only a dream.

I sighed in relief as I held a hand to my rapidly beating heart; sweat was all over my body. That was some nightmare. What I hated the most about it was that I couldn't remember what happened at all. It was all a blur.

I heard a tapping in the direction of the window. I turned and looked towards it. The sun was already out and I saw small pebbles hit the window.

I raised an eyebrow with curiosity. I pulled the covers off me, got out of bed and walked towards the window.

Lo and behold, Kazuma was standing there with a thicker jacket on than what he normally wore because of the cold, staring up at me with an annoyed face.

I opened the window and stuck my head out, "What the hell are you doing here so early in the morning?"

His annoyed face became even more annoyed, "What are you talking about? It's already 10:00! We were supposed to meet at 9:30 remember? I was waiting for a long time in the cold!"

I was confused and looked back in my room to see the time on my clock. It read 10:02 a.m.

'_Shit. I overslept…,' _I thought before looking back at him with a nervous smile, "Umm oops?"

He shook his head, "Do we have to go through this again?"

"Well, sorry!" I sarcastically said, "I'll go get ready now!"

He sighed, "Yeah, yeah. Meet me at the meadow when you're done and make sure you actually get there in time!" He turned around and disappeared in a gust of wind.

I sighed as well, closing my window. I turned around myself and got prepared for my shower.

_Half an hour later…_

I was all fresh and clean. I wore my usual clothing, put my hair up in a messy bun, and applied some makeup which I wouldn't normally do, but I felt putting it on for today. I used my long-sleeved jacket for the day since it was cold. It was all I needed for the cold since I can keep warm thanks to my being as a fire magic user.

I grabbed my cell phone and wallet and placed them in the inner pockets of my jacket before leaving my room. As I walked down the hallway, I met up with Ichiru.

"Good morning my dear cousin; are you off on your _date_ now?" He teasingly said as he looked at his watch, "Weren't you supposed to meet him an hour ago?"

"Haha very funny Ichi, laugh all you want," I sarcastically said, "As you probably can tell, I overslept. And it's not a date! We are just hanging out!"

Ichiru held his hands up for defense, "Hey, whatever you say Karai. Well, you probably shouldn't keep him waiting any longer," he said cheekily.

"I know, I know. I'm leaving right now. I'll see you later," I said in a rush before racing off to the meadow where Kazuma was waiting for me.

When I got to the spot, he was nowhere to be found. I heard a soft snoring above me and looked up at the tree.

Kazuma was leaning on the tree from on top of a branch in a comfortable position, sleeping.

I smiled. He looked so peaceful when he was sleeping. Too bad I had to wake him up.

"Kazuma! Wake up! I'm here already!" I shouted at him.

He opened his eyes abruptly and had his irritated face again when he saw me, "About time! I was beginning to think you were going to ditch me!" He got off the branch and landed safely on the ground, right in front of me.

"Sorry about that…," I sheepishly said before frowning, "I guess I overslept after having that nightmare."

He no longer looked at me with an irritated face any more; now it was filled with concern, "You had a nightmare?"

"Yeah…," I said, looking glum, "The thing is, I can't remember what happened in it. It's all a blur."

Kazuma his annoyed face turned soft as he embraced me, "Are you all right now?"

I hugged him back, "Yeah, just tired," I said before we pulled away from each other.

"But never mind about that now, so where are we off to today?" I asked curiously.

He answered, "I thought we could go to town. I haven't been here for a few years so I thought it might be nice to just walk around."

I smiled at him, "All right then, let's go."

We held each other's hands and walked towards the train station.

"You look very beautiful today by the way," he complimented me as we walked.

I blushed a bit, "Why thank you, even though I usually almost wear the same kinds of attire usually."

"Well, you put on some makeup which you don't normally do," he said.

"Oh you noticed huh? You have very sharp observing skills," I said to him.

He chuckled, "I try."

I shook my head, not saying anything about his comment.

We made it to the train station. We sat down in the spot we wanted since there weren't that much people in the train. Kazuma and I just admired the scenery as we headed to town. It was very relaxing.

Instead of holding hands though, he put an arm around my shoulders and I kept both of my hands on my lap. I noticed an old couple looking at us and whispering to each other at how we were such a cute couple.

Kazuma didn't notice them, but I did. Once again, I blushed a bit, but it went away before Kazuma could have seen it.

Our eyes met at some point and we smiled at each other before looking at the scenery again. We finally made it to our stop.

We walked on the sidewalk once we stepped off the train and left the train station. Kazuma kept his arm around me as I kept my hands in my pocket.

As we continued on, we talked about random things and went into different stores. We looked around, but didn't buy anything.

When we were passing by a jewelry store I saw some silver necklaces that had the yin-yang symbol with two different elements on each side of a necklace. Each necklace had a different combination and they came in versions for women and men. The one with the fire/wind symbol caught my interest though.

"Those are cute necklaces," I accidently said out loud. Kazuma stopped us and looked at the necklaces I was looking at and chuckled, "Of course you would look at ones with fire only."

I stuck my tongue out at him and closed it, "Well of course."

"So do you want to check it out?" He asked.

I shook my head, "Nah, it's probably expensive anyway. We should just go on."

"You come from a very rich family and you can't buy any necklaces like that?" he said with an eyebrow raised.

"I have more important things to pay for. Besides, I'm not one to buy myself materialistic things," I answered.

He shrugged, "Suit yourself; let's keep going." We continued walking.

"So… I heard from Ayano that you two went on a mission the other day…," I said, smirking.

"Yeah, I got some good laughs from that. She can be such a dunce sometimes, but that's why she can be humorous by not even trying to be," he chuckled.

"Ha-ha, she didn't really tell me much besides anything that somehow ended with her embarrassing herself and you being the reason for them," I snickered.

"Well some of it may have been my fault, but it was mostly those fairies that were pulling pranks on us and especially on her," he chuckled again.

"Ohh, she never mentioned anything about fairies. I guess she wanted most of the fault to be yours," I giggled.

"Yeah, that's how much she hates me," he sighed.

"I think she considers you like an older brother," I smiled at him, "An annoying, yet, protective one."

"Thanks," he groaned, "I don't really care what she thinks of me though."

"Even if she thinks that you are a pervert?" I teasingly said.

He had a sour face, "Well, besides that."

"That's your own fault for acting perverted in the first place!" I laughed and he sighed as we walked through a park. Looking at the scenery, there was some snow around and even some on the branches of trees. There was a particular amount of snow on a branch in the direction we were headed that I noticed. I smirked to myself, devising a plan.

I took my hand out of my pocket opposite from Kazuma and created a small fireball. When we were below the branch, I shot magic at the snow on the branch and pulled away from him.

Before he knew what was going on, a pile of snow fell on him. I died laughing after seeing him cringe from the snow that went into his back.

Because I couldn't stop laughing after witnessing such an epic event, I failed to notice him throwing a snowball right at me. I was so off-guard that I fell into the snow, right on my back.

I blinked from the unexpected hit and looked up. Kazuma had an evil smile on his face as he lightly threw the snowball up and down in his hand.

I started to laugh nervously, "Hey, Kazuma…. How about we talk about this? There is no need to go all violent." I silently and sneakily grabbed a handful of snow in my hand in case my negotiations were unsuccessful.

"It's payback time Karai," Kazuma said with the evil smile before throwing it at me, but I rolled to my right and threw my snowball at him, directly on the face again.

Knowing I delayed him, I ran for dear life while scooping up some more snow. I packed it tightly.

"You are so going to get it!" he shouted at me. I felt him catching up to me; wanting to slow him down, I turned and threw the snowball at his face once again before running off.

I heard him yell, "Damn it Karai! Stop throwing it at my face!"

I laughed as I scooped another handful of snow and continued running, "What happened to the great Kazuma now?"

I was too busy laughing and before I knew it, I ran into something, "Oof!" The something I ran into held me in a position where I couldn't use arms, "The _great_ Kazuma just captured you." I look up and see Kazuma grinning at me. _'Damn him and his wind powers.'_

"Hey, how's it going?" I hesitantly said as I waited for what surprises he had in store for me.

"Nothing much actually; just thinking of some sort of punishment for a certain person," he said as he smirked while keeping his hold on me.

"Really? Well you should probably let me go if you know what's good for you."

He raised an eyebrow, "And why is that?"

"You might want to look up…," I said. He followed what I said and looked up. At the same time, I threw the snow in my hand up and it hit him in the face. He suddenly let me go to get the snow off his face.

I was laughing really hard while I ran off again and he was chasing after me, "Karai! Now you are going to get it!"

Our snowball fight carried on for two hours before we were out of breath, but neither of us would surrender. We were both sitting and leaning our backs on a bench, panting from exhaustion.

"Ok, how about we call this a truce for now?" I said while trying to catch my breath. I held my hand out at him.

He looked at me and gave in, "Fine, but next time you're going down," he said before shaking my hand. We let go and just relaxed.

Kazuma then chuckled, "Who would have thought that the head of the Uchiha clan is out having a snowball fight?"

I giggled a bit before shrugging my shoulders, "Who would have thought an arrogant person would be having a snowball fight _with_ the head of the Uchihas?"

Kazuma smirked, "Touché."

"I don't really care though; that was fun," I said, looking at him, "It was just like the old times."

He chuckled, "Yeah." He looked at his watch and saw how late it was, "Wow, we've been at it for a while. You want to go get something to eat?" I looked up and noticed that the sun was setting. I couldn't believe that it got so late already.

I looked at Kazuma and smiled, "Sure, let's go to the café I usually go to." He nodded and we both got up from the bench and held hands to keep them warm. We put our other hands in our pockets to keep those warm also.

We walked to the coffee shop and went inside. There weren't that much people, so it wasn't as loud. I liked that. We sat down in a table and waited for the waiter/waitress.

"Kazuma…," I said, smiling at him, "Thank you."

He became confused before he chuckled, "For what?"

"Today," I answered, "I had a really good time. It was the most fun and relaxing that I've had since forever. I've been so stressed out lately."

"Same here," he smiled and held my hand, giving it a light squeeze, "And I'm glad I could help relieve you from stress for the day."

I squeezed my hand a bit and just smiled at him as the waiter arrived. We ordered two lattes. The waiter left to place our order and came back with it ten minutes later.

We took our time drinking our lattes as we continued talking about different things.

We were still laughing about the time when we pranked those bullies from the Kannagi family which resulted in them being chased by a dog and hiding up in a tree until nighttime. They never found out that it was us and we wanted to keep it that way. Once we finished laughing, we just relaxed to calm ourselves down.

At that moment, I decided to ask a question that I've really wanted to ask him for a really long time now. "So Kazuma…, what have you been doing these past few years?" I asked him curiously as I took a sip of my drink.

When I asked that, he just kept his eyes on his latte and didn't say anything for a good thirty seconds.

When he finally answered me, he wouldn't look me in the eye, "Karai… I don't really want to talk about it yet."

I sighed, "Can't you tell me _something_ that you've done while you were gone? Like how you acquired your powers?" I asked him instead.

"Not right now," he said.

"Were you able to find a place to stay?" I questioned him, intending to get something out of him.

"Of course I did, but I'm not telling you anything else right now," he said as he was mixing his drink with a spoon slowly.

"Well, did you at least meet anybody?" I tried to ask.

"Karai, I said I don't want to talk about it. Would you please just drop it… it's getting annoying," he said, getting irritated.

Normally, I would have just dropped it like he'd ask by this time, but after he said it was _annoying_ him, I didn't because that pissed me off.

I placed my drink down; set my left arm on the table and my right elbow down as I held my head with my right hand, not looking at him now, "Well _sorry _for wanting to know how my _best friend_ has been up to after not seeing him for a while."

"Just give me more time and I'll tell you eventually. Geez," he said, annoyed.

"I have been _waiting_ since the day you left, wondering what the _hell_ you've been up to," I said as I slightly scowled.

He sighed as he tried not to look aggravated, "I'm really sorry, but you are going to have to wait a little longer."

I looked at him once again, "Why can't you just tell me now? It's not like I'm just any other person you know. I'm your best friend. You _know _you can tell me anything," I clearly told him.

"I know that! Damn it Karai! Just leave it alone!" he snapped at me.

I was once again shocked like the last time he spoke to me with the same attitude. This time was worse though. I didn't spare a glance at him as I put my half of the money for our drinks on the table and stood up, anger welling up inside me.

"Karai, I didn't mean ─," he started to say before I cut him off, "Say no more! You know what? Go find somebody else who cares more about you than me! Even better, who worries all the time and is less _annoying_! See if I care!" I rushed out of the café as fast as I could without looking back. So much for the quiet... I probably caused a scene.

I knew he didn't follow me because I couldn't sense his presence. The train didn't arrive yet when I got to the station so I just leaned against the wall. I checked my phone and saw no calls or message. I expected that. He knew that when I was angry, I should be left alone. Nobody wants to see me when I am _really_ angry.

As I waited for the train, I suddenly felt horrible for what I said, but at the same time, I was still furious at him.

From the way I saw it, he acted like I wasn't that important to him because we would always tell each other anything. Saying that I was "annoying" him set me off, but his behavior towards me really pissed me off. I hated him for that… but yet, I still love and care about him. I groaned… God, why did I have to love that idiot so much!

I couldn't take it anymore. All the tears that I kept inside just dropped and wouldn't stop.

The train finally arrived. I got in and once I got to my station, I walked back to the property and to the window of my room was and just jet streamed to reach it. I opened the window and went in.

I took off my coat and boots and just went straight to my bed. I didn't care at the moment that my makeup would smudge on my face or that I still had my going out clothes on.

I kept thinking about how Kazuma and I had such a good day and because of my curiosity… it was ruined. Once again, guilt consumed me, but because of my Uchiha pride, I wasn't going to be the one to apologize first, even though he is my best friend.

With all those thoughts churning in my head, I didn't notice that I fell asleep.

_**Kazuma's Point of View**_

I was back at my condominium after the fight with Karai, just sitting on my couch. I felt guilty for blowing up at Karai like that. She had every right to know what I've been up to, especially since I left her those years ago.

I sighed and closed my eyes, lost in thought, _'I'm sorry Karai. It's still too painful for me to talk about what had happened while I was away. Remembering still hurts. I know you'll understand why I couldn't tell you yet. You were just upset because I wouldn't tell you anything and called you annoying. You hate being called a burden or weak. It's my fault.'_

I slowly opened my eyes again.

I'll give us some space to think before I apologize. One thing I know is that when Karai is mad and pissed off, you should never go after her unless you want to get injured and get sent to the hospital. I've seen her done that once to somebody and was glad that it wasn't me. She just needed to cool off right now.

My cell phone started to ring. I checked the caller ID and it was Ayano calling. Great…

I answered the phone, annoyed, "Hello?"

"Hey, Kazuma! Is Karai with you? Ichiru told me that Karai was hanging out with you today. I wanted to ask her something, but she hasn't been answering her phone… I hope you're not doing anything perverted to her!" she yelled in the phone.

I sighed and rolled my eyes, "No, we didn't do anything that you're thinking. She went home an hour ago."

"What? What kind of idiot doesn't walk a lady home?"

"She got angry at me and left."

"You are such an idiot! Why didn't you go after her?"

"Unlike you, I know that when she's _really_ mad, you should just leave her alone."

"Well, if you know her _so well_, you shouldn't have pissed her off in the first place!"

"I know that, but I didn't really want to talk about what happened when I was gone and she kept asking me about it. I then blew up on her and she blew up on me afterwards." Why was I even telling her this in the first place?

"You are so stupid! And I thought that was my job!" she yelled before muttering, "I can't believe I called myself stupid…"

I chuckled softly before she continued, "Never mind about that! You are so stupid because you make her so upset and vulnerable easily! And you know why it's usually always you? It's because she cares about you so much since she loves you, you dunce! Even I could see that!"

I became speechless.

"Oh my god, I can't believe you haven't realized this! Didn-, no don't you love her as well? I would have thought it was obvious with how close you two are!" She growled, "I know you're probably speechless right now, so I'm going to let you think about what I said. I can't believe I'm the one being wise right now. I didn't even think I could be this wise! Well, bye, Kazuma!" she then hanged up.

I closed my phone, thinking about what she said.

How could I have been so stupid? All this time, I've been hurting because of Tsui Ling and trying to forget her that I didn't realize that Karai was hurting as well, _because _of me. It was much more than being called annoying. Yes she hated being called a bother, but feeling as if I didn't care about her enough to tell her what I've been up to upset her even more.

I was blinded from trying to forget Tsui Ling and get her out of my mind that I forgot of my love for Karai and only saw her as my best friend since I still loved Tsui Ling, but after Ayano snapped me into reality, I now remember.

A smile appeared on my face.

I do. I loved Karai and I still love her now, with all my heart… and from what Ayano said, I guess she really does love me back. I even remembered when we almost kissed… the same day I was banished.

I sighed. That day really changed everything. We probably would have been together if it weren't for that stupid battle that Ayano and I had to go through. I shook my head and chuckled. Fate really sucks.

I then sighed and frowned as a thought came to mind, making me conflicted.

But am I ready…

To let go of my previous love…

And be with the one who was once, always and still is…

My best friend…

My former protector…

My first love…?

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**Drama! X.x I didn't make Ayano and Kazuma OC, did I? And did it make any sense towards the ending of the chapter? **

**Anyway, Kazuma and Ayano are only briefly in the next chapter and won't be back until chapter 17 while Ichiru will be! I'm excited for these next chapters and hope you will like them x)**

**Review, review please!**

**See you next week!**

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**Did I mention that you should review? ;P**


	13. Mysterious Presences

**Chapter 13: Mysterious Presences**

**Ahh, one more day of class until spring break! X) What a way to **_**almost**_** begin it with a new chapter! ^^ **

**So, about this chapter, I hope you like it as well as the next few (not saying you didn't enjoy the other ones or future ones) because I couldn't believe how I was able to create 5-6 chapters without using any dialogue from the anime x.x (besides this first part xD) Originally it was only supposed to be two chapters, but the number of words kept passing my usual 3500-4500 (and sometimes even to 5000) words so I decided to split the chapters up some more. **

**Enjoy! I will post up the disclaimer in the bottom so that I won't spoil something! ;)**

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_**Everyone's Point of View**_

Kazuma and Ayano were at a warehouse to get rid of an evil spirit lurking there. Ayano wore her uniform as always while Kazuma was bundled in a coat and scarf due to the cold.

Kazuma sneezed as Ayano just finished defeating the evil spirit. She de-materialized Enraiha and sighed in relief. She heard Kazuma clapping and looked at him, "I can't believe that people are actually stupid enough to pay you to stand there like a bump on a log. Must be hard being you." She said as she walked towards where he was standing.

"What can I say? It's a tough job. Somebody's gotta do it," Kazuma said coolly.

Once she was in front of him, she crossed her arms, "What a joke! Let's get one thing straight, I don't need a bodyguard. You're only here because of my dad. If it were up to me, I'd would either be working alone or be paired up with Karai, but, sadly, I can't since she has been busy with her own missions lately… so I'm stuck with you."

"Well yeah. Why state the obvious?" he asked.

"And by the way, why are you dressed all bundled up like that? You're here to protect me, not watch a soccer game!" She yelled at him while pointing at his clothing.

"Because I'm freezing my ass off and can't make fire," he said like it was common sense.

"If you're so cold, blow some more wind in here!" she yelled again.

"What do I look like? A space heater?" He said while starting to walk away, "Geez, you're so annoying."

Ayano went after him, "Kazuma wait up! When you're on duty from now on, start wearing a coat and tie. That way you'll look like a decent human even if you're not."

"What's the point of me getting dressed up when there's no one around to show it off to?"

"What? I don't count? Or even Karai?"

"I think you're missing the point."

"_By the way_, did you think about what I said and settle things with Karai already? Because whenever I mention your names to each other, you don't respond still… and it's been almost a week already," she asked curiously even though she knew the answer already.

"Nothing that you need to worry about," Kazuma said.

"I have every right to know! She's my sister!" she fumed.

"Please, just leave it alone right now Ayano," he said while walking.

"Fine, fine… Geez, you are both so stubborn… but like I said before, you better fix things or else I'll find you and burn your ass," she said, but he just kept quiet.

She then chuckled and smirked, "So I'm guessing that you do admit your undying love for her by your lack of response?" Once again, he kept quiet, but turned a little red. Ayano couldn't see though since his back was turned to her.

Ayano sighed and decided not to provoke him any longer. Instead, she went in front of him to block his path, "I'm starving. Take me to get some food! You owe me that much," she demanded.

"I guess I'm treating again?"

"Oh come on, it's no big deal right? It's just the money you earned doing nothing anyways."

"All right, I suppose a little dinner wouldn't hurt anyone," he complied.

"_Now _you're starting to figure out how things work around here," she said, looking satisfied and turning around happily, "We do things my way."

He sighed and muttered, "At least Karai is considerate enough to pay half the bill."

Ayano apparently heard what he said. She stopped and turned around to face him, "What was that?" she said with a stress mark on her head.

"Nothing," he said while passing the angry Ayano and going on ahead. Ayano just followed after him as she continued to fume at him.

"By the way," Kazuma started to say before he stopped and turned to face Ayano, "That night, you knocked me out of my senses," he said as he paused a bit; looking up at the sky.

A smile then appeared on his face, "I see things clearly now, but I still need more time to think though. I do admit, though, that I love Karai, with all my heart, so you don't have to worry as much. What I am trying to say really is…," he said as he looked back at Ayano, "Thank you; I'm glad that you called, even though you were looking for Karai. You know, you can be pretty wise at times," he chuckled.

Ayano started blushing, but composed herself before she turned red and looked like she was satisfied, "Yeah, you're welcome. I'm awesome like that. Just make sure you actually talk to her sometime. She's going on a mission soon so you're going to have to wait until then," she then went passed him, but paused after a few feet to look at him seriously, "Oh, and if you do ever get together with her, you better not make her hurt or heartbroken or else you will have to deal with me. Got it? Good," she said before turning around and walking ahead, not waiting for Kazuma to answer.

Kazuma was shocked by Ayano's behavior, but shook his head with a smile once more before catching up to her. _'I am not going to break her heart.' _

What he didn't know was that he could possibly break her heart if someone unexpected were to come back.

_**Karai's Point of View**_

"Achoo!" I sneezed while resting on my bed. I frowned. Someone must be talking about me… oh well. I was so exhausted after working so hard for the past week since I had seen Kazuma. I missed him, but I was still mad, no, furious at him.

I sighed, not knowing what to do. All I could do really is wait and see what will happen. Hopefully it won't be a long wait.

I heard a knock on the door, "Who is it?" I asked.

"It's me, Ichiru," he said outside the door.

"Come in."

The door opened and Ichiru walked in. He slowly shut the door behind him and leaned against the door, facing me, "So how are you doing?"

"I'm fine…," I said while looking at the ceiling.

"Are you sure? You don't seem like it," he said worriedly.

"I'm all right… so what's the news of the special mission?" I asked him.

He shook his head lightly before placing a folder at my side, "This contains the details for the mission which I am to accompany you with."

"Oh really? That's nice. It makes life easier without doing it by myself," I said, still lying on my bed.

He smiled, "We leave tomorrow so make sure you read that and be prepared by then. Bring warm clothes since it is still cold outside."

"Of course Ichi," I said before he left the room and I was by myself once again. I grabbed and opened the folder and read the information of the mission thoroughly.

From reading the details, Ichiru and I have to go investigate some strange noises, wailings and crying, to be more exact, coming from a haunted house two towns away. There is said to be a _yoma_ in the house that needs to be exterminated.

How very interesting…

_**The next day…**_

Ichiru and I just arrived in the train station in the place where our mission was, Karakura Town.

It has been a while since I've been here, but the place still looks the same. The last time I was here, I accompanied my parents when they were meeting some friends of theirs. They wanted to see my parents before they moved to America. It was a touching farewell.

There's no record of any magic users here, which I thought was weird at first, but I got used to the idea since I have been to plenty of towns where no magic users resided. I guess that is why they ask us magic users from other towns to take care of the "supernatural" cases.

The house that Ichiru and I were asked to go to was on the other side of town, which was going to take a little long to get to, so we decided to stay in town overnight to explore as well if our mission was finished quickly. We brought small bags with our clothes and belongings, making sure that we had light loads.

After traveling by train all morning, we went to go look for a restaurant to go eat at before going to the hotel that has already been arranged for us.

There wasn't any snow here compared to home, but it was still cold. I don't mind it since I can keep myself warm, but I am still not fond of it. It is a good thing that it will be warm again by next week, but for now; I have to deal with it.

I was wearing my usual attire except I used my long-sleeved trench coat again. Ichiru had one too. I'm glad that we're fire magic users or else we'd be wearing more clothing than we were wearing now.

As we walked, Ichiru was explaining the details more about our mission, but I paid no attention as I admired the scenery. Unbeknownst to Ichiru and me, especially Ichiru, though, two people were running in our direction. One of them was a little ahead of the other one and he wasn't paying attention to where he was running since he was in a hurry.

"Ichigo! Wait up!" one of them yelled.

I heard whoever said that and turned my head straight just in time to notice a guy heading into Ichiru's direction, who was still looking at the mission folder and "talking to me" about the details. The guy wasn't looking where he was going so neither of them knew what was coming. I tried to warn him, "Ichiru, I suggest you move out of the way."

He looked at me confused, "Huh?"

Before Ichiru and the guy knew it, their foreheads collided. They were both thrown on to their backs to the ground. They both had swirly eyes and probably headaches as well. I caught the mission folder before all the papers could scatter.

When they were out of their dizzy state, they both went on a sitting position and held their heads in pain. When they looked at each other, both of them had angry looks on their faces. They stood up so fast and pointed at each other accusingly.

"What the hell, you _moron_! Watch where you're going!" Ichiru yelled at the guy.

The guy had a scowl on his face, "Who are you calling a _moron_, you _bastard_? You were in my way!"

"It's not my fault you weren't watching where you were going, you _blind oaf_!"

"Bastard! What did you just call me? I dare you to say it again!" the guy challenged.

"I'm sorry! Are you deaf now too? Well then, read my lips! You are a _blind oaf_ who is as sightless as a _bat _and deaf as a _worm_!"

"Why you─!" the guy said as he and Ichiru glared at each other intensely with sparks starting to form in their eyes. Ichiru and the guy kept on going at it, accusing each other for the incident.

I smacked my forehead because of their childish behaviors. The girl who was with the guy stood next to me as we both sighed at each of our companion's behavior. I didn't think Ichiru could even blow up like that, let alone, allow himself to collide with someone and then fight about it.

I shook my head in dismay, "And I thought I was the accident-prone one."

"Tell me about it, this one is always troublesome and I always have to go save his butt every time. I don't know what to do with him," the girl right next to me said while shaking her head in annoyance before panting a bit from the run she just had.

I took a good look at her as we let the boys continue their fight. She had pale skin and was just a little shorter than me and more petite than me, but healthy enough. She had black hair that was shoulder-lengthed with a strand hanging between her violet-colored eyes, which were like Ichiru's, except her eyes were darker. She was wearing a white dress with a long-sleeved jacket over it, a scarf and black boots. I could tell that she was a mature and serious person with the way she acted and looked.

I then looked at her companion. He had an unusual orange-colored, spikey hair, peach skin and brown eyes. He was fairly tall, a few inches more than Ichiru, and was lean-built. He was wearing blue jeans, a dark green long-sleeved jacket, a t-shirt underneath and sneakers. He also kept a scowl on his face which I guessed he always had on.

Not bothering with breaking up the two, Rukia faced me and held out her hand, "By the way, I'm Rukia Kuchiki. This idiot who I am stuck with is Ichigo Kurosaki." Strawberry, huh?

I chuckled to myself inside, not wanting to be questioned by Rukia. That's so funny that he has a name that also means "he who protects." I bet his name suits him well. Even though I don't know him, he looked like the kind of guy who wants to protect everyone, even though he easily gets into fights… and has a scowl on his face a lot. I then smiled a bit sadly. That's just like Kazuma, except he doesn't have a scowl all the time.

I then grasped Rukia's hand after almost being lost in my thoughts. After our hands made contact, I felt that Rukia's presence was different from any normal person or magic user. It was nothing I've ever felt before and I noticed that she could feel the same as well with me. Nonetheless we both shook our hands, "I am Karai Uchiha and my companion is Ichiru Uchiha, my cousin."

We let go of each other's hands and continued watching the two. We were both a bit suspicious of each other, but we didn't do anything about it. Well, at least I did since I have a case to solve. Rukia then conversed with me, "So where are you from?"

"We live a few towns away from here. My cousin and I have some business to take care of here," I vaguely tell her.

"Really? Do you know where you are going?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, it's just on the other side of town. We were actually going to get something to eat first and then go to the hotel to drop off our belongings."

"Ok, but just in case…," she said first before grabbing Ichigo's cell phone in his pocket without him noticing and looking back at me with a smile, "We should exchange numbers. You never know, you might need some help getting around."

"Sure," I chuckled since she used Ichigo's phone. We swapped numbers before we closed the phones.

"I'm usually with Ichigo so it won't be a problem if you're looking for me. Well, we've got places to go so we'd best be on our way," Rukia said, grabbing Ichigo as he was about to punch Ichiru before looking back at me, "I hope we see each other again soon."

I smile at her as I grabbed Ichiru, "Same here. It's been a pleasure meeting you," I said before she started dragging Ichigo away, "See ya Ichigo!" I said before they were far away. Ichiru was still pretty upset as I dragged him in the opposite direction towards the nearest restaurant.

He calmed down after a few minutes so I let him go. He adjusted his clothes and looked at me, annoyed, "You know, we could have avoided that whole situation if you moved me out of the way yourself in the first place."

"Your problem; besides, I think I just made a friend," I chuckled before my face then became serious, "But they had different presences from a normal person or magic user. I don't know what though."

Ichiru held his chin and began to think, "Actually, I noticed as well. Whatever they are, that guy's presence was really high. He probably can't control it as well as the girl."

"Yeah," I said before shrugging my shoulders, "Whatever. It's not our business anyway. We'll probably find out later if we hang around here long enough. I have Ichigo's number after all."

Ichiru snickered, "That guy's name is Ichigo? Seriously?"

I nodded my head, "Yeah, but you do know that his name also means _he who protects_. It doesn't just mean strawberry."

"I know, I know. But that's a good nickname to use for making fun of him. I'm going to call him that from now on," He said evilly.

I shook my head, "Yeah, _if _you ever see him again. Now let's go. I'm even more hungry now _thanks _to your little stunt so you're treating me," I said before walking ahead to find a restaurant. (Haha, you see what's funny about what she said?)

"_What? Why!_ Come on Karai! That wasn't my fault! He was the one who bumped into me! Karai!" he said, catching up to me.

_**Rukia's Point of View**_

I just dragged Ichigo away after he bumped into that guy named Ichiru. His spiritual pressure was different from a normal person or being that I know of, even Karai's was different as well. It didn't even feel like an arrancar or visored. Besides that, though, Karai was nice and harmless. Good thing I got her number or at least Ichigo has it since it was in his phone. I sighed, now I have to tell this idiot my thoughts on the two we just met.

I stopped walking and threw Ichigo in front of me. Before he could yell, I whacked him on the head.

He held his head in pain, "Ow! Dammit Rukia! What is your problem? My head still hurts from that bastard colliding with me!"

I shook my head, "Oh quit being such a baby Ichigo! That is what you get for not paying attention to where you are going."

"That's easy for you to say! You don't have that whacko Don Kanonji looking for you! I'm surprised he didn't even find us after the collision! You'd think that he would have caught up to us by then!" He protested.

I rolled my eyes, "Whatever Ichigo. Besides, we've got more important things to worry about. Did you happen to feel anything different about Karai and Ichiru?"

He looked at me confused, "Who are you talking about?" I face-palmed at his forgetfulness and whacked him again. Once again, he held his head, "Rukia, stop doing that! I didn't hear their names since I was arguing with that guy!"

I shook my head and sighed, "Ichiru is the guy you collided with and Karai is the one I was talking with," I reminded him.

He blinked before remembering and he realized what I was saying. He was now serious, "Now that you mention it, I did. They have different presences, but they still feel human as well, just like me."

"I know," I said, crossing my arms, "But I don't think that they are a threat and I think Karai feels the same way about us."

I took out my Denreishinki (soul reaper cell phone) to make sure that they weren't Soul Reapers and it showed nothing, "Yup, definitely not Soul Reapers."

Then, out of nowhere, a beeping sound came from my Denreishinki, "We'll worry about them later. Right now there are hollow detections coming from two locations. One is nearby and the other is on the other side of town."

I then made a face which Ichigo noticed, "Rukia, what's wrong?"

I answered him, "This is weird. Hollows usually appear in random locations. We've been killing hollows around the second location a number of times already. It seems like they've been hanging around that area for a while now. I thought it was a coincidence, but now I'm thinking it's not."

"Whatever. We'll go and defeat the hollow and see if there is a pattern or something if you're so concerned about it," he said while taking out his substitute soul reaper badge, preparing to go into his soul reaper form.

I nabbed it from him before he could use it and he got pissed off at me, "Hey! What's the big deal Rukia?"

"I'm not going to let you leave your body lying around all day, leaving me to save you as people panic that a teenager collapsed out of nowhere! _And_, not to mention, I'd have to move your body before it gets taken for an autopsy! Now listen, we are going back to your house and make Kon inhabit your body since I have no extra mod soul for you right now. Now come on!" I yelled at him.

Ichigo sighed and went along with my idea, not wanting to get whacked again. We started running in the direction to his house.

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**Yeah, so who was expecting to see characters from Bleach? Hehe Ichigo is one of my favorite characters even though I keep getting him whacked (and whacked some more later on) xD I'm sorry to those who haven't watched Bleach before, but I just had to put it in. =D The idea of a crossover was inspired by CMR Rosa so credit is given to him!**

**Please Review! Even saying "good chapter! Can't wait for the next one!" will be enough. I have a number of people who favorited this story and only about two-three people review each chapter =( **

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma or Bleach, just her OCs: Karai, Ichiru, and other characters that I made up.**


	14. The Mystery of the Haunted House

**Chapter 14: The Mystery of the Haunted House**

**Boo-hoo, it's already the middle of spring break, meaning that it's halfway done. **** The good news is, though, that I finished chapter 16 and 17 which is still a Kaze no Stigma/Bleach crossover. Chapter 18 will definitely go back to the storyline which I am writing right now. **

**Thanks to **_**Experienced **_**and **_**CMR Rosa **_**for reviewing the last chapter and those who favorited! **

**Anyways, enough ranting on my part, enjoy the new chapter!**

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma or Bleach, just her OC's.**

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_**Karai's Point of View**_

Ichiru and I stood in front of the path leading to the house we were assigned to go to.

We just came from the hotel after we ate at a restaurant and dropped our belongings in our room, which had two beds if anybody was wondering.

The Victorian house in front of us was bigger than a normal house and pretty tall, so I guessed that it had three floors. It definitely did look haunted and creepy, especially with the dead grass and trees on the yard. Who knows what the inside of the house looked like… or even the back of it… The thought of that made me cringe a bit. The wooden parts of the house even looked kind of rotten. We'd better be careful with the stairs and floor.

I looked at Ichiru, "Well, what are you waiting for? Go on ahead," I told him, emphasizing my sentence more by holding out my arm and hand, ushering him to go first.

He looked at me with widened eyes, "Are you crazy? Ladies first," he said, giving me a little shove.

"It's your job to protect my life, so go sacrifice yours first," I said.

"What kind of an excuse is that?"

I shrugged like there was nothing wrong with my reason, "A good one."

He shook his head, "How about this? We both go up together?" He tried to negotiate.

I sighed, "Fine. Let's go." We walked through the pathway and carefully went up the porch stairs and floor until we stopped in front of the door.

I sighed once again, being the brave one this time. I knocked the door to check if there was actually anyone living there.

To my and Ichiru's surprise, the door opened and there, standing before us, was a teenaged girl. She kind of looked like Ayano except she had dark blue hair and wore a long-sleeved white blouse, a black skirt and knee-high black boots. Hmm, Ayano would look nice if she wore something besides her uniform for a change.

She greeted us with a smile, "Hello there. Is there something I can help you with?" she asked. Ok, now that was creepy. She even sounds like Ayano! But I think it's just pure coincidence. So I shrugged it off. Although, I've never seen Ayano smile like this girl did though. I wonder if that is the way she smiles if she actually did. No, never mind, it'd be too creepy.

Besides that, I felt something weird coming from the Ayano-look alike and I knew that Ichiru could feel it too as I took a glance at him and he did the same with me.

I looked back at the girl, "Hi. I am Karai Uchiha and this is my cousin, Ichiru Uchiha. We were told that there were weird noises coming from this house and had to investigate it. But… nobody told us that someone was living in this house though."

She kept her smile on, "My name is Sakura. I live here. Nobody knows though and I like to keep it that way so I created all those noises to keep out people who I think are threats. I saw you two heading for the house though and thought you guys were all right which is why I answered the door."

I looked at her weird, but made my face normal again before she looked back at me, "Oh really? I guess there's no problem then, but just to be safe, do you mind if we look around?"

"It's no problem at all. There's nothing for me to hide. Come in; you must be shivering from the cold," she said, opening the door and moving out of the way to let us in.

Once again, Ichiru and I glanced at each other, warning the other to be careful, before we walked into the house and Sakura closed the door behind her.

The inside of the house wasn't really as I imagined a haunted house looked like, but it still looked haunted. There were a few cobwebs in the corners of the ceiling and there was barely visible dust around the tables and shelves. The furniture still looked all right and safe to sit on.

I turned around so that I was facing both Sakura and Ichiru, "All right, I think it's best if Ichiru and I split up so that we get the area covered quickly. So, Sakura, go and accompany Ichiru on the second floor while I take care of the third floor. Once we're done, we'll finish up with the first floor."

Ichiru looked at me like I am crazy, but I made a look that said " just do it." He sighed in defeat and looked at Sakura, "Do you mind, Sakura?"

"No, it's all right. Come on, the stairs are this way," she said before leading us up the carpeted stairs. They waved at me, well, at least Sakura did, before they went to the second floor and I continued up the stairs.

_**Ichiru's Point of View**_

I really hate Karai right now. I didn't want to be stuck with this creepy girl who looked strangely like Ayano. I'm going to kill her once we finish with this mission. I don't care if she is the head… Okay maybe I do, but I am still going to kill her!

I sighed as I followed Sakura to the first room to the left of the hallway.

It was a bedroom that simply had a queen-sized bed, a side drawer, desk, closet and shelf filled with books. I looked around as Sakura waited for me by the entrance.

"So what do you and Karai do for a living, Ichiru?" she asked me as I checked out a book on the shelf.

I looked at her, "Oh, we have cases to investigate in different locations and we take care of them. Nothing really," I tell her truthfully, but vaguely, not intending to tell her we deal with "supernatural" cases where we kick the butts of evil spirits with our fire magic.

I really can't tell what is off about her though… I guess it is because I could hardly feel her presence, just like Rukia. Ichigo's, on the other hand, was pretty high though. I sighed again, today is just beyond weird.

"So what do you do all the time? Coop yourself up in this house all day and night?" I asked her, pretending to look interested at the book I am looking at.

"Yeah, I do, actually," she said, giving me that smile again that is too smiley.

I got a little creeped out by the smile, "Oh, really…. What is a girl like you living in a house like this?" I asked curiously.

"Oh, you get used to it, especially the sound of crying every now and then on the third floor," she said, not really answering my question.

I just let it go and asked her a different question, "Crying? So is this place really haunted then?" I asked.

"I guess so," she said before leaving the room and turning back to me, "You ready to look around the other rooms?"

"Yeah, there's nothing really here anyway," I said before leaving the room as well and closing the door behind me. She let me lead this time and I decided to look at the room at the very end of the hallway.

I opened the door slightly to see darkness and tried to feel the wall for a light switch. I was then hit on the head. I fell on the floor and before I could do anything, my hands were tied up with some strong tape, "What the hell?" I yelled, struggling to free myself.

I realized the room that I was checking and am now in is a closet. Great, Ichiru… of all the rooms you checked, it was a closet. Why couldn't it be a regular room! With a window!

I turned my head to see Sakura with an evil smile, holding the outer door knob, "Sorry Ichiru. I'll come back for you later. I have something to take care of now before I find your little friend and kill her first. Bye," she said before closing the door.

"Hey, get back here!" I said in the utter darkness before I heard her footsteps moving and fading away. She was already gone by now. I managed to get myself more comfortable with my back to the wall in a sitting position. I tried to break free once more, but it was no use. And I am supposed to be a strong magic user in the family like Karai…

Karai and I knew something was wrong with that girl. It is a good thing that we decided to check the house, but not so great that I got locked in a closet! Why am I so clumsy today?

I sighed. Karai can get herself out of danger better than I can. She'll be sure to save me before that evil girl gets her. I just hope she finds me before I go crazy in this damn closet… but since I am talking to myself, I think I already am. I hit the back of my head against the wall.

_**Karai's Point of View**_

"Achoo!" Damn. Somebody is talking about me _again_. I bet its Ichiru. He probably hates me right now for leaving the strange girl with him. Well, that's his problem because I'm not going to get stuck with her!

I headed for the last room to the left of the hallway. I opened the door and looked inside.

It had a twin-sized bed, side-table with a lamp, a desk towards the window, a shelf filled with books on a corner of the room and a tall mirror next to it.

Once I went inside of the room, I looked around. I was about to check the shelf filled with books when I heard a thud coming from downstairs. Ichiru probably dropped something since he has been clumsy all day. I just shrugged my shoulders and walked towards the shelf.

I looked through some books to see if there is anything interesting. None of them were. I put the last one I just checked back. My nose started to itch again and I sneezed once more, "Achoo!" I sniffled. Damn Ichiru! Do you hate me_ that_ much?

I shook my head as I went back to the other side of the bed to check inside the drawer and found nothing inside. When I closed the door, I heard some crying. I looked around the room, but I didn't see anyone. I heard it getting louder as I went closer to the wall where the shelf was. I walked there to listen through the wall, but the crying stopped before I could.

I frowned. I was too late. I went in front of the wall anyway and put my ear on the wall to listen closely. Nothing. I knocked on it and it sounded hollow, meaning that there was another room behind the wall.

I decided to go out the room and see if that last door at the end of the hallway went as far as the back of the room I was in.

Before I was going to, I felt this weird presence behind me. I turned around slowly and saw this weird-looking creature with a skulled mask across the room.

My eyes widened, _'Holy Shit! What the hell is that?'_ I thought bewilderedly because of the creature that I have never seen before.

It then made a really loud wailing noise which made me cover my ears until it stopped. I realized that maybe this was the noises that Sakura was talking about.

The question is though… is this creature really working for Sakura or on its own free will? I wasn't able to tell yet.

I held my hand out and materialized Kaito Enraiha to my hand and held it firmly in front of me, fire erupting from it.

The creature wailed once more and charged for me. I ran towards it and tried to slice it with Kaito Enraiha, but it disappeared and hung on one of the corners of the ceiling, wailing again.

I shot some fire at it, but it was too quick and fast. This thing was being such a pain. It went straight for me, attempting to claw me, but I managed to slice one of its arms off. It went to the corner of the room and held its shoulder with its other hand. It is now pissed off and charged for me again, but suddenly, its chest got sliced, although I couldn't see what did that until a figure appeared. The creature held its chest in pain as it stared at the person blocking me.

Standing before me was Ichigo Kurosaki, in black robes, wielding a huge sword, with his back to me. I was confused because I didn't even see him go in the room at all. He's just flashed right in!

"Here you are! I'm going to kill you for making me go around in a wild goose chase!" he said as he sliced the thing in half quickly before the thing recovered. It then disintegrated.

Ichigo put his sword on its holder in his back, "Man that stupid hollow was a pain. I almost lost him," he said while rubbing the back of his head.

Suddenly, another familiar figure then appeared as well through the window in the same kind of robes and a smaller sword in its sheath around her waist. It was Rukia. Now this was getting weirder by the minute.

"Ichigo, did you get the hollow?" she asked him. I'm starting to think that they didn't realize that I was in the room.

"Yeah, it ended up here. I'm guessing this is the spot that the hollows are attracted to," Ichigo said.

"Then we should check the place out," she said as Ichigo was rubbing the back of his head.

I decided to say something, "Ichigo? Rukia? What are you doing here? And what are you wearing?" I asked them.

They looked at me, surprised, "Karai? You're here? And you can see us?" Rukia said, shocked.

I looked at them weird, "Yes… I can. Why wouldn't I?" I said while de-materializing Kaito Enraiha.

"Um, Rukia, who is this again?" Ichigo asked, not remembering who I was. I face-palmed while Rukia smacked him, "Ow! Rukia! Can you please stop whacking me today!"

"Ichigo, my name is Karai," I said as I sighed from his forgetfulness before getting back to my question, "Okay, what is going on here?"

Rukia faced me after she had smacked Ichigo, "Fine. We'll tell you who we are and what we are doing here, but in exchange, you have to tell us the same."

I shrugged, "That is all right with me, but let's get these explanations going because I have some investigating to do and I'm pretty sure you have some to do as well."

(Author's note: I am making this sometime in Bleach when Rukia has her powers back, so I am only going to explain whatever I think is important to know, but if you are interested in Bleach and don't know what it is, you can just read from wiki OR you can watch it and see how awesome it is! ;] Hopefully I get the main points.)

Rukia nodded and explained that she was a Soul Reaper while Ichigo was a Substitute Soul Reaper because he was still a human who had the ability to see ghosts while she was dead. The clothing that they were wearing was Soul Reaper uniforms. The way Soul Reapers fought were by using their swords called zanpakutos and kido spells. Zanpakutos have their own name and two forms: shikai and bankai. Kido spells have three types: binding (bakudo), destruction (hado) and healing. Rukia said she was good at using them while Ichigo didn't know how to use spells at all.

Rukia is from the Soul Society which consisted of lots of regions including the Seiretei where the 13 Court Guard Squads, basically, the military of the Soul Society, resided. Rukia's mission in the human world is to take down Hollows (demons) that show up in Karakura Town. Ichigo got his powers when he first met Rukia after she was injured and he had to take over her mission because he accidently took most of her powers, but after a series of events, Rukia's powers returned and now they still deal with Hollows, along with all their friends and allies.

I nodded, showing that I was getting what they were saying, before asking something, "So what are hollows exactly? I know they are demons, but the demons, called _yomas_, that I deal with are much different from the ones you face."

Rukia nodded and got out a sketchpad from her Soul Reaper uniform. Ichigo face-palmed, but didn't say anything since he didn't want Rukia to smack him again. He just groaned. I'm guessing it had to do with the sketchpad.

She opened the pad and held it in front of her. The picture that she was showing was split into two. There was a happy bunny with hearts all over with a white background and the other side had an evil bear with sparks all over in a black background. I guess Ichigo wasn't looking forward to Rukia's lecture for me because of the drawings.

"Ok, there are two types of spirits in this world," she said before pointing to the bunny, "the first kind are the normal and good spirits called wholes," and then pointed to the bear, "while the second kind are evil spirits called hollows. The hollows attack people, living or dead, in order to devour their souls. Any questions before we continue?"

I was about to tell her that I didn't when Ichigo interrupted me before I could, "Yeah, I have a question. Why do you still have those terrible drawings?" Before Rukia could smack him, I beat her to it. He yelped in pain, "Ow! Karai! Not you too!"

I rolled my eyes, "At least you remembered my name…" He glared at me as Rukia coughed to get his attention back, "Thank you, Karai. Ichigo is lucky that I didn't draw a _mustache_ on his face this time," she said as I snickered and he continued glaring at me, "Now let us continue with our lesson."

She turned the page. The sketch now showed a happy bunny in the right with an arrow in the middle that said Konso pointing towards the left where there were flowers. Soul Society was written under the flowers, probably to mean that it was a good place.

Rukia held up two fingers, "There are two main jobs for Soul Reapers. First, to lead wholes to the Soul Society through Konso." She flipped the page which now had the evil bear again with zigzag patterns surrounding it consisting of the colors black, yellow and white, "Second is to exercise the hollows wherever we find them." She drew an X on the evil bear before closing the pad and putting it back in her uniform, "Do you understand now?"

Once again, I nodded my head, "Yeah, I get it. So that hollow wanted to eat my soul?"

Rukia's face looked annoyed, not because of what I said, but for another reason, "I don't think so before. Maybe once it got here, it did."

I became confused, "What do you mean?"

"My soul reaper phone located several hollows coming to this spot a lot for quite some time, but I didn't realize it until this morning," Rukia said.

"So what's wrong with that?" I asked her.

Ichigo answered this time, "Hollows don't usually appear in the same location, it's usually random. We became suspicious so once we found the hollow around here, we followed it and the hollow led us to this house. Coincidently, we found you as well."

"Yes and I'm thinking that there is some soul here that is really attracting the hollows to this house. The thing is… I can't sense any spiritual pressure here," Rukia pondered.

"Hmm, that is weird," I said in agreement.

She nodded before she spoke to me, "Tell us your side now. We already told you ours."

I told them who and what I was as well, what I was doing here, what _yomas_ were as well as why Ichiru and I were at Karakura Town.

Rukia nodded in acknowledgement. I didn't know what Ichigo's reaction was yet, but I found out what it was just now, "That is all believable to me… ALONG WITH FLYING PIGS AND THE TOOTH FAIRY!" he yelled.

Rukia smacked her forehead while I glared at him.

"That is the same thing he said when I told him that I was a Soul Reaper… and to think that he would learn by now that life is more complicated than what he thinks," Rukia said to me before she spoke to Ichigo, "You really don't believe her?"

"Well, I've never heard of these so-called _magic users_ before," Ichigo said.

"Well, they are practically everywhere around the world and they are public too. You were probably just isolated in your town your whole life. Because I do know that there are no magic users here so maybe that's why," I said, trying so hard not to strangle him to death.

Before Ichigo could retaliate, Rukia kicked him to the ground so that he would shut up, "We have important things to discuss right now Ichigo. If you don't believe her as she believed us, then that's your loss." Rukia then turned to face me, "Karai. I think your mission and our suspicions are connected so it's best if we became allies."

I smirked as I held out my hand, "No need to ask. That is exactly what I had in mind."

She smirked back at me, grabbed my hand, and we shook them before letting go.

Ichigo got up and sighed in defeat, "Okay, I believe you. Sorry for over-exaggerating like that."

I smiled at him, "It's all right. Although you could probably do something about that temper of yours before you turn into a flying pig," I said as I continued smiling (evilly).

His eye twitched a bit, trying to keep calm, "I'm going to pretend that I didn't hear that."

I chuckled a bit before turning serious again, "I haven't actually seen a _yoma_ around here like the details said. I'm thinking that that girl who lives here has something to do with everything that is going on. She could even be the _yoma_ herself… Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to leave Ichiru with her."

Rukia replied, "Maybe so. Where are they anyway?"

"They are on the second level which is below us," I said before we heard a loud banging coming from said floor we were talking about. I began to get worried, "I think we should go check that out. That might be Ichiru."

"Wonder what he got himself into. Maybe he got locked in a closet," Ichigo chuckled, "Well, we better go help him."

Rukia ignored him and looked at me, "Of course, let's go."

We then left the room to go check out what was going on in the second floor.

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**Hmm, I wonder who this Sakura person is? Well, just to tell you, she is not anyway related to Ayano or the Kannagi family in case you're thinking that. xP Like Karai said, it's just pure coincidence. **

**Hope you like the crossover chapters so far! I had a fun time (and struggle) writing them!**

**Please Review! Good reviews make me all happy and motivated to complete this story and it is about halfway there! :]**

**Expect chapter 15 sometime in the next two weeks!**


	15. The yoma

**Chapter 15: The **_**Yoma**_

**Hiii… what… is… up? =P I decided to update earlier than I was planning on so be happy xP**

**As you can see, this is a new chapter which I hope you'll like as always (or sometimes). X) There are fight scenes here which I suck at doing so bear with them, or if you like them, then yay!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma or Bleach.**

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_**Karai's Point of View**_

We ran to the second floor and headed for where the sound was coming from. We stopped in front of the hallway, waiting to hear where the sound was.

"Hey! Let me out of here!" a voice said down the hallway in the last door as the banging noise kept on continuing.

Ichigo, Rukia and I ran to the door and I opened it quickly. Ichiru fell right on the ground in front of us on his back. He groaned in pain and went on his side, revealing his hands held together with duct tape.

I quickly kneeled down to get the tape off him, "Ichiru! What happened?" I was able to get the tape off him as he stood up, rubbing his wrists.

"That creepy Ayano-look alike hit me in the head, tied me up and locked me in the damn closet! Where the hell did she go? She didn't get to you, did she?" he yelled in annoyance.

I shook my head, "No she didn't. We haven't seen her around. I'm all right, though, but it doesn't look like you were."

Ichigo laughed, "What did I tell you? He got himself locked in the closet!"

Ichiru gets pissed off at him, "You think it's funny that I got locked in the stupid closet?"

"Yeah I do, especially since it was a girl that did it!" Ichigo snickered as he cracked up even more.

Rukia and I simultaneously face-palmed. (They seriously have been smacking heads and face-palming a lot for the past three chapters XD)

"Why you-!" Ichiru started yelling before he stopped after realizing something, "Wait a minute! Ichigo? Rukia? What are you guys doing here?" he exclaimed as he looked at them back and forth before looking at me perplexed, "Karai?"

I sighed, "I'd think it'd be best if Rukia told you herself." Ichigo had stopped laughing by now and became serious.

Ichiru looked at Rukia as she explained to him the whole concept like she did with me… even with the sketches… which he didn't have a problem with as well. I think it's only Ichigo who thinks her drawings sucks. I'm pretty sure he believes them just as much as I did.

When she was done she asked him, "Do you understand now?"

Ichiru nodded at her, "Yeah I get it and I believe you. If Karai believes you, then I do as well."

Rukia smiled at him, "At least you and Karai took the information well unlike Ichigo here did."

Ichiru snickered this time while Ichigo got mad, "S-shut up!"

I shook my head before holding my chin in thought, "So that girl probably is involved with the case. The question is how is she involved, and where is she?"

Just then, wailing sounds echoed through the hallway we were in. We all turned around to see two hollows. One was on the railing of the stairs and the other was on the floor in front of us.

We all went into battle stance. Ichigo and Rukia got their zanpakutos out and held them firmly with both hands. Ichiru held up his hands and fire formed around them. I materialized Kaito Enraiha to my hand, with fire surrounding it, and just like the two Soul Reapers, I held my sword with both of my hands.

The hollows wailed once more before the one on the railing went downstairs to the first floor and the other hollow went into the first room of the hallway to our right.

"Dammit! They went into different directions!" Ichigo shouted.

"Great… I think it'd be best if we split up into two groups then," Rukia complied.

"You're right. It's the only way to get this done quickly. Ok, Rukia and I will fight the hollow on this floor while the two of you go downstairs and take care of the other one!" I ordered before looking at the two who I paired together, "You got any problem with what I said?"

"Yeah, I do," Ichigo said before he yelled, "Who died and made you the leader?"

I raised an eyebrow as Rukia did her part and a smack could be heard, "Ow! Fine, you can make the decisions!" Ichiru just sighed.

I nodded, "Ok then, now let me repeat myself… does _anybody_," I said while glaring at Ichigo, "have any problems or concerns besides whining?"

Ichiru and Ichigo both glared at each other before sighing in defeat and looked at me, "Nope."

"Good. Now get you're asses down there and defeat that thing before Rukia and I kick them there for you."

"Let's get this over with," Ichigo said before glancing at Ichiru, "Come on, Ichiru…"

"Fine by me. The sooner we kill that thing, the better," Ichiru added, trying not to complain, as they ran downstairs to exterminate their hollow.

I sighed, "I hope they will be all right."

Rukia placed a hand on my shoulder, "Don't worry, they'll be fine. Now let's take down the hollow."

I nodded, "You're right, let's go." We ran to the room where the hollow was.

_**Everyone's Point of View **_

**(With Ichigo and Ichiru)**

Ichigo and Ichiru didn't like the fact that they were stuck with each other, but they weren't in the right position to complain right now. They had to defeat the hollow.

They finally made it down the first floor. They were at the bottom of the stairs, conflicting whether to go through the living room on the left or the dining room to the right.

"I'll go this way," Ichiru said, referring to the right, "and you go that way," he said, pointing to the left.

"Sounds good to me. We might be able to corner it to the room that meets the ones we go through," Ichigo said.

Ichiru stared at Ichigo while Ichigo himself was weirded out, "What?"

"You actually had a good idea. I didn't think you were this smart," Ichiru responded.

Ichigo growled, "Of course I'm smart dammit! Whatever, let's just do this." That was the last thing he said before flash-stepping into the direction he was supposed to go.

Ichiru shook his head in amusement as he went to his own direction. He kept his guard up as he searched the room. The hollow was big enough to see, so it shouldn't have been that hard to find it.

From the corner of his eye, something flashed by him. He quickly turned to his right, but he didn't see anything.

He then sensed something behind him and hastily turned around. The hollow was right in front of him. He was able to shoot a fireball at the creature, but then it got pissed and hit him so hard that he flew back into the next room.

Ichiru crashed into something that made his fall easier, but heard a groan under him.

He turned his head to see Ichigo all swirly-eyed under him. Ichiru quickly got off Ichigo and held his stomach since it hurt from the hit that the hollow gave him. A small flame emitted from his hand as he healed himself to make the pain lessen. When he was done, he looked back at Ichigo on the floor sheepishly, "Oops, sorry about that man. You all right there?"

Ichigo gave a thumb's up as he continued to lay down in pain, "Never better. We got to stop colliding with each other… I'm guessing you found the hollow?"

A wail could be heard in the room that Ichiru was thrown out of.

"Yup," Ichiru said before extending a hand to Ichigo, "Need a hand there?"

Not caring to fight right now, he gave him his hand and Ichiru helped him up to his feet. Once Ichigo was up, he held his back in pain from the fall, "My back…"

"Here, I'll heal it for you," Ichiru said before he placed his hand on Ichigo's back to diminish the pain. After about a few seconds, he pulled back his hand and the fire went away, "Better now?"

"Much better," Ichigo said as he grinned like an idiot and stretched his back, "Thanks. I don't feel like an old man now."

Ichiru chuckled, "You're welcome and thank you for easing my fall. I guess we're even."

"I guess so," Ichigo said as he smirked before going serious, "Now that we're all good to go, let's get that ugly thing."

Ichiru nodded as they both ran to the room where the hollow was. The two became curious when they saw the hollow going around the room, sniffing areas that it stopped at.

"Hey, does the hollow look like it's looking for something?" Ichiru asked Ichigo suspiciously as they kept their guard up in case the hollow surprise-attacked them.

"It does… but we should defeat it now before it finds what it's looking for!" Ichigo said before he hastily charged for the hollow. Ichiru just shook his head before he followed right after him.

The hollow growled as it faced them when it noticed that they were heading straight for it.

Ichigo was screaming as he ran at the hollow. He swung his giant sword at it, but it got out of the way before it can get sliced in half. The hollow goes onto the ceiling above Ichigo and Ichiru and stay there. It turned its head to wail at them before jumping down to claw them.

Ichiru shot a large fireball at it, causing the creature to fly back and hit the wall, "Ha! Payback! In your face, you _son of a bitch_!" Ichiru yelled at it with a smirk.

The hollow looked angry at Ichiru again and went straight for him as his eyes widened, "Umm, I think I spoke too soon," he said while shooting more fireballs at it.

Each time the hollow got hit by a fireball, it got held back a bit, but it still kept its mind set on killing Ichiru.

He began to panic, but was relieved as Ichigo came in and slashed the hollow's arm off just in time before it could reach Ichiru. It screamed in pain at the loss of its arm and started going crazy.

"Nice job Ichiru, you really pissed it off," Ichigo smirked.

"Shut up! Just pay attention to the thing!" Ichiru yelled as he was being cautious for when the hollow was after him again and he got an idea. He looked at Ichigo, "Hey, I got a plan. I'll attack the hollow and make it keep coming for me to distract it so that you can attack it when it's off-guard."

"You actually want to be the distraction?" Ichigo said surprisingly with a hint of a smirk.

"No, but we don't have that much of a choice right now and seeing as it hates me more than you…" Ichiru said depressingly.

The hollow started to compose itself and looked at Ichigo this time. The said person noticed and placed a hand on his partner's shoulder, "Your time to shine, my friend."

Ichiru shoved his hand away, "Whatever… Like we keep saying, let's get this over with." He then runs in the opposite direction from where Ichigo was and shot fireballs at the hollow.

Before the hollow could go after Ichigo, it got annoyed by Ichiru once more and went after him instead, with one arm. When its back was turned, Ichigo ran for it while the hollow wasn't paying attention. He flash-stepped to the back of the hollow and swung his sword at it twice. It finally disappeared.

Ichigo and Ichiru both panted in relief that the hollow was finally dead.

"Geez, the hollows today took longer to kill than usual," Ichigo said while scratching his head.

Ichiru was confused, "What do you mean?"

"Something's been off today. The stronger and faster ones have been showing up for some reason. Something in this house must be attracting them badly."

Ichiru nodded in agreement and holds his chin, "That makes sense. Maybe there is a presence here that is strong, but we don't know what it is."

"Yeah, could be… I wonder if Rukia and Karai killed their hollow by now." Ichiru and Ichigo suddenly almost lose their balance when a loud noise erupted in the house, coming from upstairs which caused the house to shake. It then stopped.

They looked up at the ceiling. Ichigo spoke, "Guess they didn't… That sounded like one of Rukia's Kido spells. You think we should go help them?"

Ichiru shook his head, "Let them take care of it. They should be fine. We should conserve our energy and figure out what is going on. They'll catch up. We should go look for clues."

"You're right, they both are strong," Ichigo said. He paused a bit before speaking again, "You know, you're not so bad for a bastard." He then smirked.

Ichiru snorted, but smiled nonetheless, "You're not so bad for a strawberry."

Ichigo started to get pissed once again, "Don't call me that, you bastard! My name means _he who protects_!"

Ichiru held up his hands in protest before he smirked, "I know. I know. It's just _funny_ to call you that. Lighten up." He said as he walked past Ichigo to go search the first floor while Ichigo followed after him, still fuming, "Well, you wouldn't like it if I called you that!"

Ichiru just shrugged, "Nothing's wrong with my name. It means a _ray of hope_."

"Well, it also means a_ thread_…" Ichigo said as he smirked.

"Hey, at least it's better than strawberry!"

Wailings could be heard in the next room. They glanced at each other with glaring eyes that said "We'll take care of this dispute later" before they ran to go kill the hollows.

**(With Karai and Rukia)**

Karai and Rukia made it to the room. When they saw the hollow, it looked like it was searching for something.

Karai glanced at her partner, "Rukia," she started to say, but Rukia cut her off, "I know. It's searching for something."

Karai nodded and gripped her hands on Kaito Enraiha, "Let's take care of this one before the other hollows come." She swung her sword as a stream of black fire went straight for the hollow. It noticed in time and dodged the attack. Now it faced them and screeched in anger.

Rukia sheathed her sword, extended her right arm so that her hand faced the creature and put her other hand on top of her extended arm. "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south!" After her chant, a red ball of fire energy appeared in front of her hand, "Hado number 31! Shakkaho!"

The ball of red fire energy then fired towards the hollow and hit it dead-on. It flew back, hit the wall and landed on the ground.

Karai was amazed at the power and spell that Rukia used. It was incredible. _'That was awesome! I definitely have to spar with her one of these days.'_

Even though it was injured, the hollow slowly pushed itself up and screeched at us, before jumping all the way over our heads and going left into the hallway.

"Oh great, come on!" Rukia said as she ran out of the room with her arms in the same position for her attack with Karai following after her.

Rukia faced the hallway in the direction that the hollow was going and put her arm out again in front of the creature's back this time as it tried to run away. She proceeded to chant again, "Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws."

A blue fire energy ball, which looked more powerful than the other spell that she did, formed into her hand, "Hado number 33! Soukatsui!" The ball blasted towards the hollow as Karai swung a stream of black fire herself, but it turned to the right into a room just in time as their attacks hit the wall, causing the house to shake a bit.

Rukia scowled, "Dammit, we missed it by that much."

"It's all right! Now let's go get that hollow before it gets away!" Karai exclaimed as she went running into the room where the hollow went with Rukia right behind her.

Once again, it was going everywhere around the room, looking for something. It looked desperate too.

"This hollow is really annoying me…" Rukia exclaimed, "I think it's time to make it stop jumping around. Karai, attack the hollow when I tell you too," she said while pointing a finger in front of the creature this time. Karai nodded as she waited for Rukia's command.

"Bakudo number 30! Shitotsu Sansen!" A golden triangle formed from her finger and three beams of light shot out at the hollow so quickly. The hollow, too distracted on searching for what it wanted, didn't notice the triangle aiming for it and got itself pinned to the wall. It screeched as it struggled to get out, but it was impossible.

"Karai now!" Rukia yelled.

Karai charged for the hollow with her flamed sword and sliced it in half. It disappeared as well as the triangle that pinned the creature. The flames from Kaito Enraiha disappeared and Karai de-materialized it.

She turned towards Rukia and smiled, "Those were amazing spells that you did and very powerful too."

Rukia smiled back, "Thank you, you're pretty powerful yourself." She then held her chin as she walked forward until she was in front of Karai, "Judging by how the hollowing was behaving, there is definitely something going on in this house. Nobody can sense any spiritual pressure or presence except for the hollows since they are so attracted to it."

"Yeah, it's weird. We haven't even seen that girl around who supposedly lives here," Karai said.

"Are you talking about little ol' me?"

Rukia and Karai looked at each other in confusion since neither of them said that. They both looked at the entrance of the door. There stood Sakura, with an evil smile, "Hello there Karai."

Rukia sheathed her zanpakuto as Karai simultaneously summoned Kaito Enraiha. They held their swords in battle stances. They were surprised by the encounter since they didn't sense her presence.

"You're the _yoma _that has been haunting the house this whole time, aren't you?" Karai said coldly.

Sakura pouted as she stepped inside the room, "Now why would you think that?"

"Don't play dumb with us! Reveal to us who you really are!" Rukia yelled.

Sakura smirked, "Fine then, I'll show you my true form." Sakura still had the same figure, but now was in a water form with red eyes. She also floated in the air now.

"So you're a water _yoma…_" Karai said slowly.

The water _yoma _smirked once again and spoke in a demonic voice, "That's correct."

"So why are you here? And what are attracting these hollows so badly? And how can you speak?" Karai asked curiously.

The _yoma_ grinned and laughed, "I might as well tell you since I am going to kill all of you."

Rukia growled, "Get on with it then so we can kill you first!"

The _yoma_ scowled at Rukia, "Impatient much, are we? Fine then. Yes, I am a _water _yoma; so obviously, I am made out of water. Unlike other _yomas_, I don't possess my prey; I kill them and take their physical appearance."

Rukia and Karai are shocked by what they hear as the _yoma_ smirked, "Yes, I killed the one whose appearance I've taken. No need to worry; her spirit still remains here in this house. I didn't devour her completely yet. I want to make it a nice _slow_ process because of the high spiritual presence she has. It's enough for me to last awhile and sustain myself."

Karai snarled, "So that's what is attracting the hollows."

"If that's the case, then why can't we feel her presence anywhere? Even yours too," Rukia asked.

"That is because I placed a barrier in the location where she is hidden so nobody can find her. Although, it still attracted those stupid creatures here for some reason," the _yoma _said before smirking, "And I guess I'm strong enough to mask my presence which is why you can't sense it and also why I am able to speak."

Rukia and Karai are once again surprised. _'No way! This __**yoma**__ is probably really strong if it has such skilled abilities!' _Karai thought astonished.

The _yoma _smiled evilly, "I know, shocking right? That's how powerful I am now thanks to my energy source. I was so lucky to find her. No, actually, she found me!" the _yoma_ exclaimed as it giggled before continuing, "But there's no point in telling you what I mean since I am going to kill you two and then your companions downstairs. Maybe I'll keep you all with my energy source so I can move on to one of you after I completely devour her," The demon then took a stance, ready to fight, with Rukia and Karai doing the same.

The _yoma _laughed at Karai, "You honestly think you can defeat me? You do know that water beats fire right?"

Karai smirked, "We'll see about that. Lots of fire will probably be able to cool you off until you are nothing."

The _yoma _scowled when she said that and released some of its spiritual energy for the fight, "I'd like to see you try!"

Just on cue, Karai ran straight for the demon, "My pleasure!" she yelled before swinging her sword at it. It dodged before she could hit it.

Karai growled as she turned around just in time before it could claw at her. She swung her sword, but it disappeared in a flash.

The _yoma_ then appeared in front of Rukia. She tried to slice it, but it disappeared once again. The demon did that several times, annoying Rukia and Karai.

"Dammit! It's taunting us!" Rukia shouted before she flash-stepped out of sight. The _yoma_ then reappeared once more a few feet in front of Karai and noticed Rukia wasn't around, but didn't care as it fought Karai.

Karai shot a stream of fire at the _yoma_ while it sent a stream of water. When their attacks impacted, steam was produced, canceling the attacks. Karai growled as the water _yoma _smirked, "You won't be able to defeat me!"

Suddenly, Rukia appeared behind the _yoma_ and had her arm extended once more, "Hado number 31! Shakkaho!" The attack hit its target and it flew in Karai's direction.

Karai had her chance and swung Kaito Enraiha at the _yoma_ and sliced its front. It then stood still as it held its stomach and howled in pain from the gash that leaked a watery blue blood instead of the regular red blood, "Damn you people! I guess you are stronger than I thought. I have to go heal myself with my precious energy source. Just you wait! I'll be back and far stronger than before!"

"Don't even think about it!" Karai said as she ran for the _yoma_, but it disappeared before she can hit it. The _yoma's _presence started to get harder to sense before it became hidden once more.

Karai was pissed, "Dammit! That damn _yoma_ is probably with her now! And we don't even know how to find their location!"

Rukia crossed her arms in annoyance, "That demon is more troublesome than those damn hollows. I think we should go meet up with the boys and create a plan on what to do. There's no need to get angry right now."

Karai calmed down and looked at Rukia, "You're right. Let's go then."

Rukia nodded as they both ran downstairs to go find Ichigo and Ichiru.

* * *

**End of another Bleach/Kaze no Stigma chapter!**

**The **_**yoma **_**has finally been revealed! Although, it was pretty obvious that it was "Sakura" who is actually an imposter taking the real Sakura's appearance. The kind of **_**yoma **_**that it was probably not as obvious, though. I was pondering what kind of demon to make it and debated between water, wind and some other elements, but I stuck with water to make the **_**yoma **_**"shape-shift." I know, I know, you're probably thinking then how is Karai and Ichiru supposed to defeat it if they are fire magic users? I just made it work somehow. xD**

**I can't really remember if **_**yomas **_**can speak or not (which I think they don't), but I made this one talk to make it more entertaining. ;)**

**More Bleach crossover chapter coming up within two weeks! Please REVIEW! **


	16. Working out the Plan

**Chapter 16: Working out the Plan**

**Another crossover chapter! One more after this one before going back to the Kaze no Stigma plot! =) I added the beginning of chapter 17 to the end of this one to balance out the number of words between the chapters so be happy. xP**

**Pretty creative title, huh? -_- Didn't know what to call it and just came up with this one.**

**Oh well, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist doesn't own Kaze no Stigma or Bleach; only her OC's**

* * *

_**Everyone's Point of View**_

When Rukia and Karai went downstairs to the first floor, they heard some yelling which sounded like Ichigo and Ichiru in one of the rooms.

Thinking that their companions were in trouble, they ran into the dining room and into the kitchen where the yelling was coming from. They jolted to a stop and had stress marks appearing on their heads. Ichiru and Ichigo both had sparks in their eyes as they were… fighting... again.

"Your name sucks!"

"_No_, you're name sucks!"

"Mine is _cooler_ than yours!"

"My name means I am a protector so I am better!"

"I give hope to all so I'm more awesome!"

"You're a just a thread!"

"You're a stupid strawberry!"

Rukia and Karai glanced at each other, nodded and proceeded to go towards the boy closest to them.

"You bast-! Ow! Karai, let go of my ear!" Ichigo said as she dragged him away from Ichiru and whacked him on the head.

"Rukia, that hurts! Stop pulling!" Ichiru said as said girl dragged him away from Ichigo and whacked him on the head as well.

Rukia and Karai then shoved their victims to each other as they landed on the ground. They then stood in front of the fighting duo.

"What the _hell_ are you two doing at a time like this?" Rukia scolded.

"We have a _yoma_ to kill and you morons are acting like even bigger morons right now!" Karai yelled.

"I don't see how you were even able to kill your hollow with your childish behaviors!" Rukia shouted.

"Why are you even fighting about your names? They both mean _one_ as well as those other meanings…, but there is no reason to fight! Both of your names are cool so shut up and quit arguing right now or so help me, Rukia and I will kick your asses to oblivion!" Karai exclaimed, "Are we clear?"

Ichiru and Ichigo muttered, "Sorry," as they rubbed their heads in pain while scared at the same time.

Rukia and Karai calmed down. Karai spoke, "Good, now let us forget all of this happened. So, you killed your hollow?"

Ichigo and Ichiru stood up, still rubbing their heads. Ichigo spoke for the two, "Yeah, we did; two more hollows came afterwards and we got rid of them as well. How about you guys? We felt the house shake."

Rukia and Karai nodded their heads. "Yeah, that was us. Our attacks missed the hollow when it went into another room. We eventually defeated it and then we found the _yoma_. No wait, _it _actually found us," Rukia explained.

Ichiru and Ichigo looked surprised, but didn't say anything as Karai explained to them about the water _yoma _and the spirit that it kept hostage in the house somewhere in a hidden location where a barrier is put up.

Ichigo clenched his fists, "That, that thing! To do that to an innocent person! It must be stopped!"

"Calm down, Ichigo. We have to strategize first," Rukia said, "You should know that by now."

"Well, we have to hurry! She's probably been miserable and alone this whole time as that damn _yoma_ sucks up her energy in a cruel way," Ichigo said angrily.

"Ichigo, I admire your urge to go save her, but stop being rash. One, we don't know where she is or how to find her. Two, we don't _even _know where the _yoma_ is. Our best guess is that it's with the girl right now, healing itself up. Three, even if we do find her and take down the barrier, the hollows will keep coming one by one so we have to do something about that and we still have to defeat the _yoma_. Do you understand?" Karai calmly explained to him. Rukia nodded in agreement with her.

Ichiru sighed, "I hate to admit it, but they are right Ichigo."

Ichigo hid his face as he slammed his fist down on the kitchen countertop. He breathed slowly before he calmed down, "Yeah, I understand." He looked up at his companions with fire in his eyes, "So what's the plan?"_ 'We have to save her! We can't let that damn_ _**yoma**__ devour her soul!'_

Karai looked at him, surprised with his change of behavior, _'This is a side of Ichigo that I never knew he had. I thought he was just an idiot, but he is more than that. He really is a good person... and a protector… to __**everyone**__,'_ Karai thought before looking a little sad, _'Just like Kazuma…'_

'_To think that this is the guy that I have been fighting about names with,' _Ichiru thought, just as surprised as Karai, _'He's really incredible.'_

Rukia slightly smiled, _'Ichigo… so bent on saving and protecting everyone, even if he doesn't know them well... that's just like him.' _

"Okay, so everyone is okay with the plan?" Karai asked. They all nodded. She then glanced at Ichigo who smirked at her, "Let's do this."

Karai smiled, "Let's hope this works."

**Flashback**

"_Ok, our plan is to go find the girl and also kill the __**yoma**__, so what we are going to do is taunt the __**yoma **__to come out," Karai whispered to everyone as they were huddled together in case the __**yoma **__can hear them._

_Rukia continued, "We are all going to fight it at first, but then you guys," she said while looking at the Ichigo and Ichiru, "will distract it as Karai and I go find the girl. We think she is somewhere near the room where we first saw each other."_

_Ichiru and Ichigo nodded. Ichigo then spoke, "All right then, but what happens when you do find her? Especially since she has a high spiritual pressure that might draw the hollows here?"_

_Karai spoke this time, "Rukia will mask her presence after she dispels the barrier so that the __**yoma **__can't use her anymore. The rest of us will then fight the __**yoma **__and any hollows that might appear. Then, once we tire out the __**yoma **__enough, Rukia will place a binding spell on the __**yoma **__so that I can purify it."_

_Ichigo then cut me off, "Yeah and then we can defeat that damn demon once and for all!" he exclaimed while holding up his clenched fist._

**Flashback Ended**

They all started taunting the _yoma _to come out.

"Sakura! Where are you? Or is that even your name?" Karai shouted out.

"Stop hiding and come out already!" Ichiru exclaimed.

"Hey water _yoma_! Get your ass out here!" Ichigo yelled, "Are you scared that we're going to kick your butt or something?"

Laughing could be heard from everywhere in the room. Everyone looked around, but they didn't see the _yoma_.

Just then, the demon appeared in front of them floating in the air, not in its original form, but in a much stronger one. She still looked watery, but she now had different appearance. The _yoma_ had a long skirt that was fit for battle, a fancy halter top, no shoes on, longer hair and sharper claws. Shockingly, she possessed a sword now as well.

Rukia and Ichigo unsheathed their swords; flames covered Ichiru's hands, and Karai summoned Kaito Enraiha with her flame. They all went into battle stance.

The water _yoma _pouted, "That wasn't a nice way to summon me," she said before smirking, "but who cares. I'm just going to kill you all. You'll all make good energy sources to feed on. I can't wait! You probably can tell that I am in my stronger form now."

Ichigo was pissed off, "We'll defeat you before you can have a chance of doing that to us or anyone else!" He then charged for the _yoma _and tried slashing it, but it disappeared. Everyone kept their guard up.

Rukia felt the _yoma _appearing next to her and moved her sword in the direction. Swords collided. Rukia growled as the _yoma _smirked. They both pulled back. Rukia stood in battle stance again as the _yoma _did the same, but while floating.

Karai stood where she was while Ichiru and Ichigo went to go attack the _yoma_.

Ichiru threw several fireballs while Ichigo went to slash the demon. The water _yoma _deflected the fireballs as well as Ichigo's sword with its own.

They pulled back and went at it again, with Ichiru throwing his fireballs at the _yoma _to make her more vulnerable to Ichigo's attacks since its fighting against both of them.

Ichiru kept attacking the demon, but glanced at Karai, "Go now! While we have it distracted!"

Karai nodded and looked at Rukia, "Rukia, let's go!"

She looked at Karai, "Right, come on!" They both ran up the flight of stairs, passing the second floor and heading to the third floor. Once they got there, they went into the room where they first saw each other.

Karai and Rukia looked around carefully as they listened for the specific noise that they were waiting for.

After a few minutes, they heard some crying.

Karai and Rukia glance at each other as they moved towards a wall where the sound was coming from which was where the mirror was.

The crying became louder as they got to the wall. Karai placed her ear on the mirror and knew the noise was indeed coming from there.

"Rukia, the noise is coming from here," Karai said as she moved away from the wall to look at it.

Rukia placed her hand on the mirror and felt a small hint of reaitsu, "There is definitely a barrier behind here." She took her hand off and looked at the wall, "This is it. She should be behind this wall."

"How are we going to get through?" Karai asked.

"Leave that to me; just step back and stay here. This barrier may be strong, but my spiritual energy is stronger so I'll be able to go through. I'll go check it out while you keep watch," Rukia said as Karai nodded and moved back to give Rukia some room.

She went through the wall and found herself in another room which was blue. The moment she stepped into the room, she felt a strong spiritual energy and looked into the direction where a bed was.

On it was a girl who had the same form as the _yoma _did earlier, meaning that this was Sakura. She looked scared and tired-looking as she started to cry. It was probably since the _yoma _reallydrained her energy to heal its wound.

Rukia went towards the scared and pale girl who just noticed her; surprised; she started backing up into the corner some more even though she couldn't. She looked at her with comforting eyes, "It's all right. You're going to be safe. Are you Sakura?"

The girl sniffled as she relaxed and nodded, "I am. Are you here to rescue me?"

Rukia smiled, "Yes, my friends and I are here to help you. My name is Rukia Kuchiki," Her face then became serious, "Now tell me what happened. Wait, no, you can tell my friends and me later. Right now, I need to know what the _yoma _has been doing to you."

"So that's what that thing is called…. A _yoma_."

"Yes, it's a demon."

The girl then looked down in acknowledgement, "Well, from what I've seen that _yoma_ do to me, it feels like it has been draining the life out of me, causing me to be in such a state like I am now, but today, it took more energy out of me than usual," she said as she held her chest from her tiredness, "I'm guessing it is because of that injury that it got. The demon's wound healed after draining from me and it also transformed into a stronger form."

"That was me who gave it the injury; I'm sorry that that demon did that, but we are going to help you and kill the creature."

"And how are you going to do that? It's strong," she asked curiously.

Rukia smiled, "Don't worry, we are far stronger," she then became serious, "Before we go kill the _yoma_, I am going to need to take down this barrier and get you out of here so that it can't use you again. Your spiritual pressure is going to attract lots of creatures so you need to watch out. I am also going to place a spell on you that will mask your presence, but I can't yet until your energy is up some more which is a setback."

The girl nodded, but when she saw Rukia back away from her, she got scared, "Wait, don't leave me here!"

Rukia got up and looked at Sakura, "Don't worry, I'll be back. I'm just going to inform my friend the situation and disable the barrier. Be prepared to get out of here when I return."

Sakura didn't look pleased; it's been awhile since she has seen any person, but she sighed in defeat, knowing that a few minutes of waiting won't hurt, "Ok, hurry back."

Rukia nodded before she went in front of the mirror that was in the exact same place as the mirror in the other room and went through. She found Karai there, with her sword out, keeping watch.

Karai noticed that Rukia was back, "Well, is Sakura there?"

Rukia nodded, "The _yoma _drained her so much that she is fatigued, but she is fine."

Karai looked pissed, but calmed herself, "It's good that we found her just in time before the _yoma _could drain her completely."

"Yes it is. I am ready to dispel the barrier, but we have a problem though; I won't be able to place the masking spell on her until her energy is up; if I do it now, the spell might break…" Rukia said seriously.

Karai heaved a sigh, "I guess it will be more of a challenge for us now with the oncoming hollows, but there's nothing we can do," She held Kaito Enraiha in battle stance, facing the other way, "Ok, ready when you are."

Rukia nodded and went in front of mirror. She held out two fingers pointed in front of the wall and did some movements before she moved her arm quickly to the side and yelled, "Release!" The barrier was then dispelled.

Sakura's spiritual pressure could be felt everywhere in the house. Rukia and Karai knew that it was matter of time before the hollows and the _yoma _would come.

Unfortunately, a hollow appeared rather quickly. It screeched. Karai turned her head to look at Rukia, "Go now! Get her! I'll take care of this thing!" She then turned back towards the hollow and went to attack it.

Rukia wasted no time and went through the mirror once more. She saw Sakura in the same place that she found her, still looking tired, "Sakura! Hurry!"

She did and they both went through the mirror just in time to see Karai stab the hollow through its skull. She then pulled her sword back and the hollow disintegrated.

Karai kept her guard up, but looked at Rukia and Sakura with a smile, "Nice to meet the real you, Sakura. My name is Karai Uchiha."

Sakura nodded and looked a bit sad, "I'm sorry for causing you all so much trouble. I shouldn't have allowed myself to get killed in the first place."

Karai shook her head, "You didn't know; it is not your fault… it's the _yoma's_."

She looked down sadly, "But, still…"

Rukia comforted her, "Don't worry, once we defeat the _yoma, _we'll send you to the Soul Society; it's a place for spirits like you."

Sakura smiled slightly, "I trust what you say is true, but I want to take care of something before I pass on."

Rukia nodded, "Of course, but afterwards. Your spiritual energy is still down so I can't mask your presence yet and the _yoma _could-," Before she even had a chance to finish what she was saying, the said creature had broken through the wall near the entrance of the door and threw a stream of water at her, causing her to fly into the wall where the mirror was and crash into the room that Sakura was previously in.

Sakura was surprised at the sudden attack that she couldn't move. Karai went in front her to block her from the _yoma._

The _yoma _stood near the door, pissed off, "How _dare_ you distract me and go off to steal my energy source! She is mine!" the demon then materialized her sword.

Karai stood firmly in her position, "There's no way we're going to let you completely drain up her spiritual energy! She doesn't belong to you or anybody!"

Karai and Sakura heard movement behind them and turned their heads to see Rukia alive and scratch-free.

"Rukia, are you all right?" Karai concernly asked while keeping her guard up.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me!" Rukia said as she sheathed her sword and stood next to Sakura, "I just got caught off guard; no injuries. Now let's do this!"

Karai nodded, "Rukia, take care of Sakura," she didn't wait for a response as she took the chance to be the first one to attack. She swung her sword and it clashed with the demon's sword. They pulled back and stood in their battle stances once more.

Rukia and Sakura moved to the corner to give Karai some space to fight.

This time, the _yoma _charged for Karai and tried to slash her midsection. Karai jet streamed up to dodge the attack and went over the _yoma. _She landed safely down, pushed herself up the floor and slashed at the demon's back.

The _yoma _floated out of the way before it could get hit and landed onto the top of the bed.

"What did you do to Ichigo and Ichiru?" Karai asked coldly.

"Oh, those two?" the _yoma _said as she giggled evilly, "they are a little busy right now. You probably won't see them anytime soon."

"Ha! Think again!" said a voice, coming from the doorway. Karai looked and smiled. It was Ichiru who looked tired. The _yoma _didn't look too happy at the sight at him.

"I was afraid she might have killed you or something!" Karai sarcastically said as Ichiru snorted, "Do you have such little faith in us?"

Karai smirked, "Of course I don't, but you can be clumsy at times." Ichiru just shook his head.

Ichigo then appeared next to him, all frustrated at the _yoma_, "You thought you could get away from us, didn't you?"

The _yoma _scoffed at them, "I thoughts those hollows that appeared would finish you off for me, but it looks like they didn't succeed."

Just then, another hollow appeared. The _yoma _smirked, "Looks like you just got your hands full again."

Karai sighed and looked at the guys, "Ichigo! Ichiru! Take care of the _yoma_ while I take care of the hollow."

Ichigo didn't hold back as he went to attack the _yoma _once more with Ichiru backing him up.

Karai looked at Rukia who was watching out for the hollow so that it couldn't get to Sakura. Unfortunately, it was headed for them, but she charged for it.

It saw Karai and jumped back before she could slash it in half. It screeched in anger and lunged for her instead.

Karai jet streamed up and dodged the claws of the hollow, going over the hollow. She landed on the ground and turned around to face the hollow's back. She threw a stream of black fire at it. The hollow wailed in pain as it turned around to face Karai.

Once again, they charged for each other, and this time, Karai was able to thrust her sword forward and stab the hollow's mask, defeating it.

Once it disappeared, Karai sighed and looked at Rukia who nodded at her. She then looked in the direction of where the other battle was and saw that Ichigo and Ichiru were having a hard time attacking the _yoma _while the _yoma _itself while still all right since it was dodging everyone's attack.

She saw the _yoma, _just in time, attack Ichiru, throwing him off his feet and skidding on the floor a few feet in front of me. He just laid there in pain as the _yoma _attacked Ichigo and sent him out the room and into the hallway.

Ichiru didn't see the _yoma _coming straight for him so, out of instinct, Karai pushed him out of the way, taking the hit for him while he went slightly unconscious. The _yoma's _sword got her on the shoulder and she winced in pain.

The demon then smirked and pulled it out of Karai before sending a powerful kick at her abdomen, making her fly out the window. She heard Rukia yell her name when she made impact with the window.

Karai was thrown on the ground ungracefully as she hit it several times before stopping on her side. Kaito Enraiha had de-materialized soon after.

She felt some cuts and bruises around her body, but there was excruciating pain in her shoulder which was made by the _yoma_ and also there was pain on her midsection, but she didn't dare look at it. She just squirmed on the floor as she tried coping with the pain.

When Ichigo went back into the room, he made it just in time to see Karai fly out of the window and into the backyard of the house, "Karai!" he and Rukia yelled. Ichigo tightened his hold onto his sword in anger that the _yoma _did that to his friend. He looked outside to see if he can see where Karai was and saw her while he kept his guard up in case the _yoma _sent him out of the room again.

He saw the small figure of Karai on her side in pain on the ground; the area that she was in was the backyard of the house which was surprisingly big enough for a battle field.

Noticing this, Ichigo looked at the _yoma_, "How about we take this outside? There's much more space to kill you in."

The _yoma _smirked, "Fine by me, let's go, shall we?" she said as she disappeared.

Knowing he didn't have that much time, Ichigo went to Ichiru quickly who was a little out of it and helped him up, "Ichiru are you all right?"

He held his head, trying to get his senses together, "Yeah, I'm all right now… where's Karai?"

"She got kicked out of the window. You should be the one to go check on her," Ichigo said as Ichiru looked at the broken window and his eyes widened, "That idiot! What's wrong with her?"

Rukia spoke this time where she was, "Ichiru, she took the hit for you! Stop insulting her! Go help her now! Ichigo, you're going to have to take care of the _yoma _for now by yourself. I'll help out in a bit myself once I mask Sakura's presence."

"You're right; ok, I'm going now," Ichiru said in defeat as he healed himself.

Ichigo nodded and then smirked, "Can you find your way down?"

Ichiru finished healing his wounds and snorted, "Of course I can! I'll just take the window!"

Ichigo shrugged, "Suit yourself!" he then looked at Rukia, "I'll see you in a few," he said before flash-stepping outside.

Ichiru sighed and looked at Rukia and Sakura, "Be careful, you two."

Rukia nodded, "You take care of yourself as well."

Ichiru nodded before opening up another window. He jumped out and landed safely onto the ground and ran in the direction where Karai was.

Once she saw Ichiru go out the window, Rukia looked at Sakura, "I am going to place the masking spell on you now. You have to keep yourself conscious or else the spell will be broken. So once I finish, you're going to stay close with Karai and Ichiru while I go help Ichigo fight, understand?"

Sakura nodded, "I understand."

Rukia smiled, "All right, are you ready?"

"Yes."

Rukia then held out her hand in front of Sakura and concentrated her powers, "Bakudo number 26: Kyokko (Curved light)!" Sakura was engulfed in a white light before it disappeared. Her presence was now hidden.

Rukia sighed, "Done. Now let's go outside. Come on." Rukia jumped out the window with Sakura behind her.

**~…~**

Karai was still in pain as she remained on her side. Ichiru just arrived and knelt down in front of her with her back facing him, "Karai! Are you all right? Stay with me now!"

"Don't worry, I'm not going to pass out, but this pain is killing me!" Karai said as she cringed.

"Ok, I'm going to turn you over gently," Ichiru said as he moved her body so that her back was on the ground and he could see her injuries. He was shocked by what he saw. She had a wound on her shoulder, a big glass shard stuck in her stomach and worse, another glass shard that stuck where her rib cage was. That was probably the main pain that she was enduring.

Ichigo had a nervous look, "Karai, do you feel a pain in your rib cage."

Karai nodded, "Yes, it feels like one of the ribs broke or is kind of broken."

Ichigo sighed sadly, "I was afraid of that. I think it cut through a rib bone, but it's still stuck. I can remove the one in your stomach and then heal the rest of your wounds. You are probably going to have to get a surgery done for the one in your rib."

"That's fine. You can just dull the pain. I am needed in the battle since I have to purify the damn _yoma_." Karai said with her eyes tightly closed.

"Karai, are you sure?" Ichiru asked softly, "You look like you're in a tremendous amount of pain."

"No shit, but I have to deal with it. I'm the only one who can do the purifying since your just learning how to possess it. Don't worry; I won't fight as much until I'm needed," she said before closing her eyes as she felt another surge of pain and cringed once more. It stopped and she looked up at Ichigo, breathing heavily as she started to perspire, "by the way, where are Ichigo, Rukia and Sakura?"

"Don't push yourself; Ichigo is over there fighting the _yoma _while Rukia is masking Sakura's presence right now. They should be here soon," Ichiru answered his cousin.

Karai looked in the direction where Ichigo was. She saw him in different clothing than he had before, plus, a skull mask like the one that the hollows had. She guessed that it was a different form. He looked like he was putting up a good fight for now, but the _yoma _still looked energized.

She then looked up at Ichiru, "Ichiru, heal me already so we can go help out."

"All right, I'll start now." Ichiru slid his sleeves up so that they wouldn't be in the way. He began healing the wound on her shoulder caused by the _yoma_, "Thank you for taking the hit for me Karai. I wish that you hadn't done it, but I am grateful."

Karai chuckled, "You're my family, so of course I would do it."

Ichiru shook his head, "You would do it for anybody… because that's the kind of person you are."

"Yeah, yeah; just get with the healing so we can kick that bitch's ass."

Just then, Rukia and Sakura came running towards them and stopped in front of them. Rukia saw the state that Karai was in, "Karai! How are you doing?"

"I'll be fine. I see the masking spell work. I didn't even notice that her presence was gone already," Karai said.

"Yes, it has already been done. I'm going to help out Ichigo so I'll leave Sakura here with you guys," Rukia said before going off where Ichigo and the water demon were fighting.

Sakura knelt down beside Ichiru, "Is there anything that I can do to help?"

Ichiru looked at her, "Yes; just keep watch for anything coming our way. I need to finish up healing her shoulder and the cuts and bruises before getting to her stomach injury."

Sakura nodded and did as she was told, "All right."

Ichiru finished up healing her shoulder. He then removed her coat so that he can heal her cuts and bruises. Once he was done, he sighed and looked at the two glass shards in Karai's midsection and looked down at Karai, "Karai, just stand still as best as you can."

Karai sighed, not looking forward to more pain, "Let's get this over with."

Ichiru gently placed his fingers on the shard, "Karai, you ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be; let's get this done already," Karai said as she inhaled a good amount of air and exhaled it, closing her eyes.

Ichiru pulled out the shard quickly as Karai squirmed from the pain; blood started to leak out of Karai's wound. Ichiru placed his hand on top of her wound and healed it completely, but a scar still remained since it was a deep wound.

Next, he placed his hand on top of the wound where the glass shard was stuck in her rib. He didn't heal it, but dulled the pain so that she can be able to fight. He took his hand away once he was done, "Karai, how are you now?"

Ichiru helped her get into a sitting position as she spoke, "I feel so much better than before, but I still feel this damn pain in my rib. I'll live though; I just need to not move as much."

"Don't push yourself too hard," Sakura said worriedly.

Karai looked up at her, "Thank you for your concern," she said as she held a hand out to Ichiru, "Can you help me up?" Ichiru helped her stand up slowly. He then grabbed her coat and handed it to her. She put it on.

They finally noticed the noises coming from the battle across the backyard. They saw Rukia using her kido spells and Ichigo slowly getting up from a small crater.

"Come on, let's go help! Ichiru, I'm going to keep an eye on Sakura as well as keep defense for you guys while you go help them out with the offense," Karai said, looking at him, "Once the _yoma _is tired out and unguarded, Rukia will bind it and then I'll do my part."

Ichiru nodded as they all ran towards the battle.

* * *

**End of chapter! Hope you enjoyed! It wasn't bad, was it? :/ Let me know with your reviews which I won't be able to see if you don't review. xP **

**By the way, I recently watched this movie called Taiyou no Uta (also known as Song of the Sun and Midnight Sun). IT IS AMAZING! One of my new favorite movies! The songs are amazing too. It's about this girl with a disease called Xeroderma pigmentosum where she can't be exposed to sunlight or else she will die. It is a really romantic, dramatic and touching story that you should watch. There is also a manga which is mostly the same as the movie. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, the one who plays the girl is Yui! She's the one who sang some songs from Bleach such as "Life" and "Rolling Star" and "Again" from FMA: Brotherhood. **

**Also, after watching it, I was inspired to write a Tales of Symphonia story with Karai in it x) I'm planning to only make it about 10-15 chapters or less. I'll let you guys know when I post it up. Don't worry, I'm still writing the chapters for Love between Wind and Black Flames xP which will be about 40 chapters or less? Don't know yet. Sorry, just had to mention all this, haha.**

**Remember to review!**


	17. A Sorrow's End

**Chapter 17: A Sorrow's End **

**Hey Everyone! New chapter up! This is the end of the bleach crossover chapters! X) I'm really proud of them and I hope you liked reading them! **

**Thank you to **_**CMR Rosa **_**and **_**Experienced **_**for your reviews as always! You guys rock!**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma or Bleach except her OCs.**

* * *

_**Everyone's Point of View**_

Ichigo appeared before the _yoma _who was waiting for him with her sword at hand.

He looked dead serious, "You are going to pay for all the pain you've caused Sakura."

The _yoma _giggled, "We'll see if you can. Give me all you've got."

Ichigo smirked, "Oh I will." He then held a hand in front of his face, concentrating his powers, "Bankai!" Smoke surrounded him, blocking the _yoma _from seeing Ichigo.

The _yoma _just watched and waited to see what she was up against now.

When the smoke cleared, Ichigo was in his long-sleeved uniform. He had a hollow mask on and his sword now regular-sized and black.

"Now we are getting somewhere," she smirked while getting into battle stance.

"My friends and I will kill you so that nobody will have the same fate that Sakura had!" Ichigo yelled with his hollow voice. He flash-stepped quicker than before and tried several times to hit the _yoma, _but she dodged every one of them.

It was a struggle for the _yoma_, though, because Ichigo put lots of force with each blow, causing the _yoma _to move back every time.

Finally, he was able to graze the demon's midsection, causing water blood to leak out.

The _yoma _growled, "I am going to get you for that." Water swirled around the demon and then formed into spikes.

Ichigo knew what the _yoma _was going to do and jumped up into the air. The spikes were headed for Ichigo and as he was flying back down, he dodged every one of them as he charged for the _yoma._

When he was about to strike at the demon, she disappeared and tried to strike at Ichigo's back. He deflected her sword with his. They pulled back and went at it again and again, disappearing, reappearing, and then clashing. You could barely see them.

Ichigo went up at the sky again as the _yoma _stayed on the ground below, staring at him.

Ichigo waved his sword, "Getsuga Tensho!" a crescent moon-shaped wave of dark red energy formed when he swung his sword, heading straight for the _yoma_.

The _yoma _held out her sword in front of her to block Ichigo's attack. The wave of energy pushed her back a bit, but the demon was able to send off Ichigo's attack right back at him.

He just cut through his rebounded attack. He didn't see the _yoma _appear suddenly before him so he wasn't able to dodge the kick which sent him crashing to the ground.

Ichigo lied in a small crater caused by the crash, slowly pushing himself up. The _yoma _appeared on the ground and walked towards him, attempting to strike him.

"Hado number 33: Soukatsui!" Blue fire energy was headed straight for the _yoma. _She noticed the attack in time and dodged.

The _yoma_ didn't notice Rukia appear behind her as she sent out another attack, "Soukatsui!"

The demon got hit that time and was flying through the air. She was able to get herself together and landed on the ground.

Rukia kept appearing in different spots as she sent out multiple attacks at the _yoma_, "Soukatsui! Soukatsui! Soukatsui!" The _yoma _kept dodging her attacks every time Rukia sent it at her.

Out of nowhere, another set of fireballs were headed for the _yoma _as well, this time set by Ichiru who was headed towards the fight. Ichigo also sent another wave of dark red energy at the _yoma_, "Getsuga Tensho!"

The water demon growled because of all the incoming attacks and jumped back a few feet.

When all the attacks were closing in on her, she put up a water shield, canceling all the attacks, with steam forming.

Once the smoke disappeared, the water then turned to ice spikes and fired in all directions.

Rukia noticed and held her hands out, "Bakudo number 39: Enkosen (Arc Shield)!" A yellow wall of light blocked the spikes from hitting her. Ichiru and Ichigo just dodged them.

One of them was headed Karai and Sakura's way, but Karai shot her fire at the spike, melting it.

The water _yoma _now looked tired after all the energy it has been using, especially with the ice spikes.

Ichiru, Rukia, Karai and Ichigo glanced at each other, knowing what to do. They were all tired as well, but there was more of them and one of her.

Karai looked at Sakura, "Sakura, my part will be up soon so you are going to have to take care of yourself until we defeat this thing."

Sakura nodded, "Don't worry, I'll be all right." Karai smiled and materialized her sword with purple flames now surrounding the blade because of her protective instincts.

Ichigo and Ichiru went to attack the _yoma _again, giving it all they got. With the _yoma _distracted, Rukia casted the same spell that she did on Sakura on herself now.

"Bakudo number 26: Kyokko!" a white light engulfed her and her presence was masked. Rukia looked at Karai before flash-stepping out of sight.

The demon was now having a hard time since it was tiring out and eventually leapt back a few feet from everyone and panted heavily with one knee on the floor, "If you hadn't stolen my energy source, I would be strong again! Once I defeat you all and kill you, you'll all suffer a more terrible state than that girl did!"

"Yeah, yeah; talk all you like. You'll never defeat us!" Ichigo yelled.

The _yoma _snarled and started getting prepared for attacking again. While she was preparing, Rukia silently appeared behind her and traced symbols etched in red light in front of the demon's back while chanting quietly, "Disintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and then claw out your own throat!" The symbols and incantation were completed, "Bakudo number 9: Geki (strike)!" The _yoma's _bodywas then immediately engulfed in red light, paralyzing it.

Rukia then shouted, "Karai! Do it now! Hurry!"

Karai ran in front of the _yoma_ and held out her hand. She was engulfed in purple light as she concentrated her powers. A circle of purple fire surrounded the water demon and bursted up in the air as the evil creature was being purified.

Even though the _yoma _couldn't move, she still was in pain while screaming. The red light from Rukia's kido spell then disappeared from the creature which allowed the _yoma_ to move around like crazy in the circle that she couldn't leave.

When the fire disappeared, the _yoma _transformed back into its original form and had her sword no longer. She fell onto her knees, panting heavily from the lack of energy. Cuts formed everywhere around the demon's body as water blood leaked from it.

The demon glared at us, "We're not… finished yet…"

Karai smirked, "I believe we are. Everyone, give it all you've got," she said before jumping back. When she landed, she held her wound gently from some of the pain, but she tried to pay no mind to do it right now.

"Getsuga Tensho!" Ichigo sent his dark red wave of energy.

Rukia held out one finger, "Hado number 4: Byakurai (Pale Lightning)!" A powerful lightning bolt fired out of her finger.

Ichiru threw a huge black fireball and Karai sent out a stream of purple fire.

All their attacks hit the water _yoma _simultaneously, causing a huge explosion as the demon screamed out loud until it disintegrated into nothing.

The battle was over.

Ichigo's mask dissolved as he and Ichiru were shouting out of excitement for their victory and Rukia and Karai were sighing in relief.

After a few minutes, they all went to where Sakura was.

"The _yoma _will hurt you no longer, Sakura. Now tell us everything that happened," Rukia said as they gathered around her.

Sakura sighed heavily before speaking, "Well, my best friend, Tamaki, and I were orphans that lived in the orphanage somewhere in town."

"I know where that is," Ichigo said as they all looked at him, "It's just a 20-minute walk from here."

Sakura nodded as she continued with her story, "Tamaki was curious with this house and wanted to check it out."

**Flashback**

"_Come on, Sakura! Let's go in! Or are you scared?" A brown-haired teenager chuckled as he and his best friend were standing in the entrance of the haunted house._

_Sakura snorted, crossed her arms and turned her head to the side, "Of course not, Tamaki! I just have a bad feeling of this place, that's all."_

_Tamaki shook his head, "Don't worry about it! I'm here! I won't let anything get near you, you dope!" he said with a goofy smile while holding out his hand to her._

_She opened one eye open, looking at his hand before sighing in defeat and placing her hand in his._

_They slowly walked into the house, with Sakura holding onto Tamaki's arm. The inside was creepy with cobwebs in the ceiling and the creaking noise on the floorboards._

"_Tamaki, I think we should go now," Sakura said, not getting a good feeling about the house._

"_All right, all right, let's go check upstairs first before we go," Tamaki said with pleading eyes, "Please?" _

_Sakura sighed, "Fine, let's go so that we can get out of here."_

_They went up the stairs to the second floor and into the first room that they saw. _

_Tamaki let go of Sakura as he went to look at the desk. Sakura went to look at the bookshelf. She took a book off the shelf and looked through it. A loud bang was heard. _

_Sakura dropped the book and turned around quickly. The door was closed and Tamaki was nowhere to be seen._

"_Tamaki? Tamaki!" she yelled as she ran for the door. It wouldn't budge open and she started to panic._

_She then heard a voice call her name, "Sakura, Sakura."_

_Sakura heard it coming towards the wall where the mirror was and slowly walked towards it._

_When she was in front of it, the voices stopped as she stared at her reflection. She looked closer even though she was scared._

_Just then, a creature smiled at her evilly and pulled her through the mirror as she screamed, "Ahh!"_

**Flashback Ended**

Everyone waited for her to continue as they felt sad for her situation, especially Ichigo who clenched his fist, "How could the _yoma_ do something like that!"

Sakura looked down sadly, "When I woke up, I was already dead. I don't know what the _yoma _did with my body, but I guess she disposed of it after taking my appearance. Also, I don't even know what ever happened to Tamaki. I wouldn't have been able to check anyway since the _yoma _didn't allow me to leave the room," Sakura said sadly as she paused for a bit.

She looked at them with determination, "Before I go to the Soul Society, I want to check if Tamaki is still living in the orphanage and if he is all right."

Rukia nodded, "Of course you can, we'll go check now," she said as everyone stood up.

"I'm sure he's all right," Karai assured her.

Sakura nodded, "Yeah, he probably is." They started walking with Sakura at the rear.

Suddenly, a hollow appeared a few feet behind Sakura. Karai, Rukia, Ichiru and Ichigo turned around quickly, feeling its presence, getting their weapons out. Sakura looked at them weird before turning herself slowly until she was facing the hollow.

It was heading straight for Sakura as everyone shouted her name, trying to get to her.

Sakura clenched her fist, hiding her face, "I'm sick of being weak and everyone having to protect me…," she then looked up with fire in her eyes, "This time, I'm going to protect myself!"

When the hollow was closing on her, Sakura jumped and did an aerial kick that sent the hollow flying into the fence. Everyone was surprised at Sakura's actions as she landed perfectly on her two feet.

She had her hands on her hips and turned her head to look at them innocently, "Well guys, care to finish it off." Everyone's eyes were still wide-eyed.

Ichigo shook his head, remembering what he was supposed to be doing. He charged for the hollow and slashed it until it was killed.

Eyes were still on Sakura, but Rukia and Karai composed themselves.

"Well, surprise, surprise," Karai said with a smirk.

Ichigo and Ichiru still continued to look at Sakura with a "WTF" look as she giggled, "Sorry, I never told you; I took self-defense classes when I was alive. Looks like my skills aren't rusty yet and they still work even though I am only a spirit."

"How come you didn't try to fight back against the _yoma _if you had skills like that?" Ichiru asked in confusion.

Sakura shrugged, "I guess it's because I didn't have the strength to fight back until you guys gave me the courage to."

Karai smiled, "Well, we're glad." Rukia nodded in agreement.

"Maybe the _yoma _got Ichiru stuck in the closet after absorbing you're skills," Ichigo snickered.

Everyone just laughed at him as Sakura laughed nervously, apologizing for what the _yoma _did. Ichiru's shoulders slumped as he sighed, "Thanks for reminding me…" They all knew that that was not the case since the _yoma _only took the physical appearance, but they made a laugh out of it anyway.

Rukia spoke to Sakura, "You could make a fine Soul Reaper someday with your skills. When you go to the Soul Society, you should think about going to the Soul Reaper Academy," she recommended.

Sakura smiled, "Maybe I will."

_**At the orphanage…**_

"Excuse me; does a boy named Tamaki live here?" Karai asked a receptionist with Ichiru at her side.

The receptionist lady was looking at her weird, "Yes there is actually. Why? Is he in trouble or something?"

Ichiru shook his head, "Nothing like that, we just need to speak to him."

The receptionist got up, "All right then, I'll be back."

A few minutes later, a brown-haired unhappy teenaged boy came out with the receptionist. The receptionist shoved him a little forcefully in front of us, "These people wanted to speak to you."

He looked at us with a frown, "Who are you?"

Karai smiled, "I'm Karai Uchiha and this is my cousin, Ichiru; we can be your friends, I hope…"

"Mind if we go and take a walk?" Ichiru asked, looking back between him and the receptionist lady. She waved a hand at us, "It's no problem at all, just make sure he's back in one piece."

Tamaki sighed, "Let's get this over with."

Karai, Ichiru and Tamaki went outside into the street and walked.

Tamaki spoke, "So what do you want? Why are you here?"

Karai looked at him, "Sakura…"

His eyes widened and he started to sweat, turning his head to the side, "Che, what about her? Going to arrest me or something?"

Ichiru shook his head, "No, you won't believe us, but she wanted us to send you a message."

Tamaki looked at us like we were crazy, "What?"

"Hold on, we're almost there," Karai said with her hands in her pockets, "We'll try to answer your questions as much as we can."

He looked down, curious with what Karai and Ichiru we're going to tell him.

"We're here," Karai said as they all halted to a stop. They we're near a fountain at a park.

When Tamaki looked up, his eyes widened. Standing before him was his best friend, "Sakura?"

Karai, Ichiru, Rukia and Ichigo were surprised that he was able to see her. Ichigo and Rukia were still in their soul reaper uniform, standing on each side of Sakura as her eyes widened as well. This will make their job a whole lot easier now.

"You can see me?" Sakura asked him.

"Are you crazy? Of course I can! Where have you been? I missed you!" Tamaki said going towards her.

"Wait, Tamaki," Karai tried to warn him, but it was too late. He tried to reach for her, but his hand just went through her. He looked shockingly at her before tears started coming out through his eyes as he fell to his knees with his face hidden, "So… you're dead."

Sakura smiled sadly at him as she kneeled in front of him, "I am."

Rukia explained to him what they've been through with Sakura helping to explain in certain parts.

Tamaki clenched his fists that were on the ground, "I'm sorry Sakura… Forgive me… for not protecting you that day… two years ago. What kind of friend am I…" he pleaded sadly. Sakura just stared at him in his weak state.

Ichigo spoke up, "What exactly happened to you on that day?"

"Well, something caught my eye when we were in that room," Tamaki started to say.

**Flashback**

_Tamaki turned around and saw a shadow pass by the door. He glanced at Sakura who was busy looking at a book. Thinking that she would be all right, he went out the door to check it. _

_He looked around the hallway and thought he saw the shadow next to him so he turned quickly, but saw nothing. _

_Out of nowhere, the door suddenly closed in the room where Sakura was still in and before he could try to open it, the shadowy figure appeared in front of him, startling him. _

_He got frightened that he didn't notice that he backed himself at the top of the stairs and fell down to the hallway of the second floor. He got knocked out and became unconscious for a few hours._

_When he woke up, he searched the whole house, but could not find Sakura._

**Flashback Ended**

I tried telling people, but they just assumed that she ran away. Nobody really seemed to notice she was missing since she was an orphan. I never forgot, though. I've been consumed with guilt these past years, doing nothing but wait to see what happened to you."

He then slammed his fist on the ground, "And now that I've found you, you're dead, because of my stupidity."

Sakura looked at him softly, "Look at me, Tamaki," she said to him. Slowly, he did.

"It wasn't your fault. You didn't know what was going to happen," she told him.

"But I should have listened to you when you said you had a bad feeling-," he said before Sakura made him shush, "I forgive you. You know why? Because you're my best friend… and… also… I love you."

He smiled at her, "I love you too." Sakura smiled as she held up a hand. He placed his on hers like they were touching, yet, they were so far away.

Sakura smiled as she began to cry, "I'm glad I found you before I leave. Tamaki, will you do something for me?"

Tamaki nodded, "Anything, Sakura."

"Move on and make something of your life. Will you do that for me?" Sakura asked him.

Tamaki smiled, "Of course I will. You can count on me."

Sakura cried as she stood up. Tamaki did as well. She went in front of Karai and bowed, "Thank you for everything." Karai smiled, "It was a pleasure meeting you, Sakura. You know, you really look like my sister. She's really like you except her temper is really bad."

Sakura chuckled, "As long as she's a good person."

"Yeah, take care, Sakura."

Sakura then went in front of Rukia and bowed to her, "You're the first that I've seen ever since I was stuck in that room, thank you." Rukia chuckled, "It's no problem. Nobody should have the same fate as you did. I'll probably be seeing you sometime when I go back to the Soul Society. I hope to see you then."

Sakura smiled, "I hope so too."

She then went in front of Ichigo, "Thank you for protecting me even though I am a stranger." Ichigo smiled, "It's my duty as a protector to help anyone in need."

Finally she went to Ichiru and bowed to him as well, "I am so sorry that the_ yoma _locked you in that closet in my form." Ichiru held a hand up in defense, "Hey, it wasn't you so you have nothing to worry about. I'm glad to have met you, Sakura."

Sakura then turned back to Rukia and Ichigo, "I'm ready to go now."

Rukia nodded and looked at Ichigo, "Would you do the honors of performing the Konso?"

Ichigo smiled a true smile rather than his normal one with a scowl as he took his sword out, "Are you ready?"

Sakura looked at Tamaki who nodded his head. She smiled, "Don't forget about me… maybe if I become a Soul Reaper, I'll visit in the near future."

Tamaki smiled as he put his hands in his pockets, "I'll be waiting, you dope."

Sakura chuckled and shook her head before turning towards Ichigo, kneeling down in front of him, "I'm ready…"

Ichigo held the hilt of his sword up in front of Sakura and pressed the end of it gently on her forehead. The end of the hilt then glowed on her head, "You'll be in a better place now." When he removed his sword, a symbol etched in blue light remained on her forehead.

Sakura put her hands together as she smiled and looked at Tamaki once more, "See you soon, Tamaki. Don't wait for me too long."

He nodded his head as she was surrounded by a blue light and slowly went down into the ground. When she went all the way down and the blue light disappeared, a hell butterfly appeared and flew away, going to the Soul Society.

Once they couldn't see the butterfly anymore, Tamaki looked at the group, "Thank you everyone for helping Sakura be in peace."

Rukia spoke, "It's what we do."

"So what are you going to do now?" Karai asked.

"Do what Sakura said, make something of my life somehow. Maybe I'll start by trying to move out of the orphanage already. Now that I know that Sakura is in peace, I won't be moping around anymore," he said as he looked at the sunset in the horizon, smiling.

Karai smiled, "I'm sure you'll do well. Sakura will be happy."

Tamaki nodded, "Yup, well I got to now. Don't want the orphanage to think I'm a runaway too. I hope to see you guys sometime."

Ichiru spoke, "Maybe Rukia and Ichigo since they live here, but if you're ever going to our town, you can stay with us."

Karai went to him and handed him a card with Kirika's number and one with the Uchiha house's number, "Here, since you can see spirits, maybe you can help out with this police force. Who knows, you might work with us. The other is our number in case you're in town."

"I'll keep that in mind," Tamaki said as he got the cards from Karai and put it in his pocket, "Bye guys," he said, waving a hand while walking back.

"Alls well that ends well," Ichigo sighed, putting his hands behind his head.

Ichiru suddenly remembered something and went to Karai, panicking, "Karai! Your wound! You need the shard removed!"

Karai was all emotional with what was going on that she forgot about the glass shard still stuck in her which now started to hurt again.

Ichigo looked at her wound that he never knew was there and started to panic as well, "Oh my god! We got to get you to my clinic! Ichiru grab her and let's go!" Ichigo yelled.

"Uh guys, I think you're over-exaggera- HEY PUT ME DOWN! OW! WATCH THE WOUND!" she screamed as she was being held bridal style by Ichiru. Ichigo started to run, "Ichiru, follow me!"

"Right behind you!" Ichiru said while following after him.

Rukia sighed and shook her head, "Bakas…" she then went on to catch up with them.

_**At the Kurosaki Clinic…**_

When they got to Ichigo's house, they had to wait for Ichigo and Rukia to get their bodies before going inside to see Ichigo's father. He was able to do a quick surgery in time and get the shard out. He then stitched the wound.

When he asked how it happened after he was done, they told him that she accidently fell out a window which sort of really did happen. He didn't ask much since he was too busy fighting with his son because he came home later for dinner.

Karai just lied down on the bed with her coat off and a bandage around her midsection. When Ichigo's father left the room, Ichiru slightly healed the bone, enough so that it can heal naturally, but she would still be a bit sore for the next few weeks. He could have healed the outer skin without having the stitches done, but since Ichigo's father had already done it, he would have to do it when they get back home.

Ichigo and Rukia came in, checking on Karai.

"How are you doing?" Rukia asked.

"Me? I'm great!" she said sarcastically, "Except I am going to be sore for a while."

Rukia smirked, "We're glad that you're going to live."

Karai just chuckled, but then remembered that she wanted to ask Ichigo something, "Hey Ichigo, what was the skull mask that you had on? It looked like the one that the hollows had."

Ichigo rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, besides being a substitute soul reaper, I am also a visored. They are like soul reapers except they have hollow powers. You're not scared of my mask, are you?"

Karai shook her head, "No, not at all. I was just curious."

Ichiru snorted, "Yeah. Why would we be scared anyway? Those hollows are uglier than you."

"Thanks you guys," Ichigo said before he started to get pissed, "Hey! Are you saying that I am ugly?"

"What _no_! I would never!" Ichiru said while snickering.

"Are you being sarcastic with me?"

"I don't know, am I?" Ichiru grinned, obviously being sarcastic.

"Why you-!"

Once again, they were fighting. Rukia and Karai just laughed instead of getting angry this time.

Karai and Ichiru had dinner that night with Rukia and the Kurosaki family which consisted of Ichigo's father, his fraternal twin sisters and Ichigo himself. It was a very entertaining and amusing dinner. Afterwards, they went back to their hotel to rest for the night after an exhausting afternoon.

By the time they knew it, it was morning and they were in front of the train station, waiting for their train. Rukia and Ichigo were there to see them off.

"We really had such an adventure here," Karai said, smiling.

Rukia nodded, "Yes we did. We were glad to meet such powerful allies." Karai and Rukia hugged, "If you ever need our help with any _yomas _that need purifying, you let us know," Karai said.

"Same to you; if there are any hollows that need handling or a spirit that needs to be sent to the Soul Society, you let us know."

Ichiru and Rukia then gave each other hug and said their goodbyes.

Karai gave one to Ichigo, "It was nice meeting you, Ichigo. I thought that you were a total idiot at first, but I came to find out you are really an amazing person. You know, you remind me a lot of my best friend back at home." He chuckled as he hugged back, "I'm glad that you don't see me as an idiot anymore and I hope being like your friend is a good thing."

"Don't worry, it is. See ya, strawberry," Karai said, smirking.

Ichigo eye twitched, but kept himself together, "Ha, ha very funny, Karai… Take care of yourself." They released their hold on each other.

Ichigo and Ichiru then shook hands. Ichiru spoke, "We may have started off badly which included a head collision, but I'm glad to have met you Ichigo. We came to be good friends despite the fact that we fight a lot." Ichigo chuckled, "Same here. See you soon, Ichiru." They released hands as the train came into the station.

"Well, that's our ride, we better get going," Ichiru said as they all waved to each other before they went in the train.

"The next time you come over, you can meet our gang!" Rukia grinned.

"Sure, we'd love to meet them! Keep in touch!" Karai said as the door closed. Just before the train set off, Ichigo was tackled by some weird guy.

"Ichigo! I finally found you! Please be my apprentice!" the weird guy said.

"Don Kanoji! Get off me! I don't want to be your stinkin' apprentice!" Ichigo yelled.

Ichiru and Karai just laughed while Rukia shook her head.

The train finally set off and they were unable to see Ichigo and Rukia any longer.

Ichiru and Karai sat down, waiting to return home. Karai was lost in her thoughts, remembering about her situation with Kazuma.

* * *

**The crossover chapters are finally over! Chapter 18 goes back to the storyline and guess where it starts? The amusement park episode! XD Will Karai and Kazuma get along again and perhaps… finally become a couple? Well, I'm not telling you! Or did I just tell you? O.O Watch out for the next chapter to find out which will be out in two weeks.**

**By the way, this is not the last time that we see Ichigo and Rukia! (hint hint) Expect to see them again in later chapters!**

**PLEASE PLEASE **_**PLEASE**_** REVIEW! I know many of you are too lazy and/or are busy to review (Believe me, I know since that definitely happens to me), but would it KILL you to review every now and then (Which I do)? You never know what might happen when this story ends… maybe there will be an awesome surprise to a certain reviewer once the story ends? Might happen, might not. I'll have to think about it.**


	18. Extra: If Things Happened Differently

**Bonus Chapter: If Things Happened Differently**

**Heyyy guys! *nervously laughs* as you can see, this isn't the next chapter to the story… it's a bonus chapter! **

**So… about chapter 18… I'm having a writer's block at a certain part because I want it to make sense since it's a major chapter! [You'll see what I mean when I finally post it up! ;)] I already have it half-way done though; it's just the rest of the chapter that I need to finish. **

**I know I said that I would update in two weeks, but I had finals so that threw me off (damn you bio and especially chem!). I just wrote this extra chapter to make up for the long wait, but I hope you like it! It's about what could have happened if Kazuma had said goodbye to Karai instead of just leaving without saying anything at all. By the way, this isn't part of the storyline!**

**Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma.**

* * *

I have been training for over an hour already as I waited for Kazuma to arrive at our spot where we would always meet: a small meadow with a beautiful sakura tree in one of the corners. We found this spot a few years ago and have been coming here ever since without anyone bothering us. Ironically, mother and father actually have been here before which was surpising.

I sighed as I took a rest and leaned on the tree, relaxing. A few minutes later, Kazuma showed up.

I smiled as I pushed myself up. I pretended to get mad and crossed my arms and looked away from him as he approached me, "Took you long enough, slowpoke. Who's the late one now?"

"Sorry about that," he said softly.

I frowned. He didn't react the way I thought he would. I turned my head to face him and noticed that he looked upset.

I became worried and walked slowly towards in his direction until I was in front of him. I placed one of my hands on his cheek, "Kazuma, what's wrong?"

He placed his hand on top of mine that was on his cheek as he closed his eyes and just sighed, "My father banished me."

My eyes widened as I became angry, "What? Why? What happened? Did this have to do with why you left my household?"

He nodded slowly, "Yeah; I had to battle my cousin Ayano for the right to be successor of the Kannagi clan and wield Enraiha. Since I don't have any fire magic, she easily defeated me and I lost. Father was so disappointed and just banished me."

I snorted, "What kind of father would banish his son like that? That's cruel."

He opened his eyes, "It is… but it's my own fault for not being able to control fire magic. That's why I'm going away to find something that I will be good at and become strong. I don't care if I disgrace the Kannagi family anymore. I don't consider them my family any longer after being banished."

Anger was replaced with shock. The only thing I heard was that he was leaving, "Wait… Y-you're going away? You're leaving?" That's when I noticed his duffel bag next to him.

"Yes… it's the only way. I'm grateful for you defending and encouraging me, but this is something I must do on my own now… so that I can protect everyone I care about…," he replied before he removed my hand from his cheek and placing it in front of him. He then moved his other hand on top of mine, sandwiching it between both of his, "so that I can finally protect you," he said with a look of determination.

At that moment, I knew that he wasn't going to change his mind and I was okay with it. He wasn't the same boy that I knew; he had changed in just a few hours. I was proud of him.

I gently laughed, "I guess this is the "change for the better" that I was talking about earlier, huh?"

He smiled, "Looks like it."

I looked down and sighed, "Ok, you can go, but promise me one thing…"

"Anything…" he said.

I looked up at him in hope, "Come back to me… please."

Kazuma chuckled before letting go of my hand and cupping my face with both of his hands as I continued to gaze at him. He leaned down towards me and placed his lips on mine.

I was surprised at first, but soon after, I was kissing him back. He wrapped his arms around my waist as I wrapped my arms around his neck, deepening the passionate kiss.

What felt like forever was actually only a few minutes before we pulled our lips away from each other and just hugged. I leaned my head on his shoulder while he placed his chin on my head.

"Of course I will come back… because I love you," Kazuma tenderly said, "Not just as your best friend... but more than that."

I cried softly, happy with what he said, "I believe you… because I love you too…"

He smiled, "I'm glad to hear that."

We let go and just had our hands on top of each other's. "Promise me something also…," he said.

"What is it?" I asked him curiously as the tears continued to drop.

"I know you'll make a great head of the Uchihas someday… so continue to become stronger," he said.

I smiled, "Of course I will… you don't have to worry about that."

"I know; I'm just making sure," he said before they hugged again, "Who knows? We might be equally matched by the time I get back," he said before grinning, "And I could finally kick your ass then."

I laughed before smirking, "I will get stronger… so that won't happen."

We pulled apart once more as he chuckled before looking serious and wiping away my tears, "Also, check up on Ren for me every now and then."

I nodded before sadly smiling, "Where will you go?"

Kazuma shrugged, "I don't really know yet… maybe I'll go to China?"

I frowned, "That far?"

"Hey, it's all right. Wherever I go, just know that I will always be thinking of you," he said before bringing up my hands to kiss them.

I smiled, "I will be thinking about you too." Slowly, our hands released from each other, even though they did not want to let go. Once they did, Kazuma picked up his duffel bag and gave me one last quick kiss.

"This isn't goodbye… so see you soon," I stated. He nodded, "See you soon," he said before turning around and leaving.

My eyes started to grow heavy as I watched his figure fading away. Unexpectedly, he stopped and turned his head and waved at me. I laughed and waved back at him.

He turned forward once more and kept on walking until he was gone. I was sad that he had to go, but I knew he had to do it to make something of himself since he wasn't going to find it here. Besides, I already know he that loves me and he knows I love him.

I smiled as I headed back to the Uchiha household, intending to get stronger as I patiently wait for his return home… back to me.

* * *

**And there you go! Hope the extra chapter was to your liking! Review as always!**

**Since school is already over for me, I'll be sure to work on chapter 18 this week and post it up once I'm done. Stay tuned! =)**

**Thanks to CMR Rosa, BleedinLuva1123 and StarViky for reviewing last chapter!**


	19. Apologies & Confessions

**Chapter 18: Apologies & Confessions **

***Hides behind laptop***

**Please don't hurt me! I'm sorry it took me this long, but I was finally able to get out of writer's block and finish up this chapter! I hope it's to your liking! It's a little longer than what I usually keep it at! ;)**

**Thanks to these people for reviewing last chapter: Experienced, CMR Rosa and Rnn21.**

**Disclaimer: DarkFlame Alchemist doesn't own Kaze no Stigma.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

_**Karai's Point of View**_

We had an awesome time in Karakura Town, but it was nice to be home again. Uncle let me rest for a few days because of the wound that I got. I was still sore though so I couldn't do anything too extreme. It's been about a week already, but Ichiru said that I should wait a few more days before removing the stitches, so I'm still stuck with them.

Right now, I was with Ayano in her room as she was getting ready for the amusement park where our mission is with Ren… and Kazuma.

**Flashback**

_Father summoned me three days after my previous assignment. He had a new mission assignment for next Sunday._

_We were all before Father. Ren was kneeling on the side. I was kneeling down next to Ayano while Kazuma was on her other side. _

_Ayano was pissed at Kazuma as usual. "I am not going anywhere with him! Not until he apologizes to me!" Ayano yelled._

"_Calm down; try not to lose your temper Ayano," Father said before looking at Kazuma and I, "I want you to teach her to control her power and use it more wisely."_

_He then looked at Kazuma only, "And I'll gladly pay you extra for your time."_

"_Hey, wait a minute! I would be fine if it was just Karai with me!" Ayano yelled._

"_Yes, but Karai is still injured from her previous mission so it would help if Kazuma was there too," Father said. _

_I sighed as eyes all looked at me with worry, "Guys, I'm fine, really. I just broke my rib, that's all. It's healing right now."_

"_What the hell? Just broke a rib? You should be resting!" Ayano yelled at me now. _

_I shook my head, "I've had enough resting. Besides, it's not broken anymore, it's just sore and tender."_

_Before Ayano could start arguing, Father placed down three tickets in front of us. _

"_Does that say Dreamland?" Kazuma asked._

_I stared at the tickets with a frown, __**'Seriously? An amusement park?'**_

"_It's a request from a client. It could be nothing, but there may be a spiritual disturbance at the park. I want you to go down there and investigate next Sunday. If it's nothing, then take the day off, check the sights and have fun. You all need it."_

"_What? Why? We won't have any fun with Kazuma around," Ayano whined._

"_Hey, wait; I have an idea. Why doesn't Ren just come along with us?" Kazuma suggested._

_Father looked a little disappointed… I wonder why._

"_Well, it is an amusement park, right? If it's not all business, why not just bring him?" Kazuma asked. _

"_Yeah, that makes sense," Ayano said nervously, "I completely agree with you."_

"_Yeah, Ren needs some fun as well," I added._

"_Then it's a done deal. If Ren wants to," Kazuma said._

"_Yeah, sounds like a good time," Ren said happily._

"_Um, Ren; if you want to go, I have another pass for you. Just come see me later," Father sternly stated. _

_I became a __**little **__suspicious when I saw the look on Father's face__**. 'Hmm, something is up with him…'**_

**Flashback Ended**

I sighed as I slowly lied myself on Ayano's bed. Maybe this will be the day where Kazuma and I finally get along again. Maybe.

Today was a nice, sunny and warm day so I went back to wearing my no-sleeved jacket again. I glanced at Ayano. She was just wearing her under clothes while choosing which uniform she was going to use for the day. All three of them looked alike. Exactly alike, might I say. Honestly, I don't see why she's taking so long getting dressed.

"Ayano, why don't you wear something else for a change? I've never seen you wear anything besides that uniform of yours," I said, raising an eyebrow.

"I like these uniforms, thank you very much!" she protested before looking down, pondering between two of her uniforms.

I shook my head, "You know… there was someone that I met during my mission who looked almost exactly like you." Ah, Sakura, may you rest in peace in the Soul Society.

"Yeah and your point is?" she asked.

"She looked nice with the clothing that she wore so I imagined that you would look nice if you wore something different besides those uniforms… just saying."

"Thanks Nee-san, maybe some other time. I'm quite comfortable with these clothes that I'm choosing to wear."

I shrugged my shoulders, "Suit yourself then." I gently lied back down onto her bed, not wanting to strain my sore injury.

"Hmm… this one," she pondered, holding up one uniform before setting it down and picking up another, "or this one."

I smacked my head, "Ayano, just choose one before the day ends."

Ayano's cell phone rang. She threw the uniform she was holding back on the bed and ran for her phone.

"Ayano speaking," she said on the phone before waiting for the person to answer, "Oh, yeah, sorry." She then hanged up and went back to choosing a uniform.

"Let me guess. Kazuma is getting impatient?" I deduced.

"Yup; he said that he wasn't getting any younger," Ayano chuckled before looking at her uniforms once more. A few seconds later, she chose the middle uniform, looking all happy.

"You look all excited," I noticed.

Ayano had sparkles in her eyes, "We're going to an amusement park! Of course that is exciting! I love amusement parks!"

I just looked at her, surprised, before smiling. She was such a kid at heart.

"By the way, Onee-san, did Kazuma ever talk to you yet?" She asked while putting on her uniform.

I frowned, "No, why?"

She looked a little disappointed, "Oh, it's nothing. Just wondering when you two are going to talk again."

I sighed, "Don't know." _'Hopefully today...'_

When she was done, we walked outside the estate and met up with the guys. I stayed next to Ren, chatting with him while Kazuma and Ayano argued as we went to the train station. He told me about a girl named Ayumi that he met and what happened during the days I was gone. I looked at him sympathetically and slightly told him about Sakura and Tamaki. I didn't tell him the whole story though.

We were sitting on the train, waiting to go to the amusement park. I sat next to Ayano on one side with Ren and Kazuma sitting on the other side.

"So Karai, tell us about your mission out of town. It sounds really interesting," Ayano asked excitedly, "All you told me was that there was somebody who looked like me."

Ren's eyes were widened, "Really? You didn't tell me that! Was it that Sakura girl you were talking about?"

I stole a glance at Kazuma who staring out at the scenery, knowing that he was listening in to the conversation, before looking back at Ren, "Yeah, she was a spirit that I helped along with my two new friends who are soul reapers," I explained.

"Whoa! What are soul reapers?" Ren asked curiously.

"Yeah tell us the whole story!" Ayano exclaimed.

I chuckled softly, "All right, all right. Well, it started off when Ichiru and I got to town-."

I first told them the part when Ichiru and Ichigo had their heads collide to when we Ichiru got stuck in the closet. Ayano was laughing so hard, Ren chuckled and Kazuma snickered.

I then told them up until we found out about the water _yoma _and what it did.

"That was pretty cruel," Ren said.

"Yeah, I know… taking the life of an innocent girl. That was despicable. I'm really glad we got rid of that bitch demon," I remarked, glaring to the side. Ren got a little scared. I couldn't see Kazuma's reaction, but I bet it was surprised.

"Wait, so it actually spoke?" Ayano said curiously, trying to lighten the mood.

I turned to face Ayano with a calm look now and nodded, "It did. It was a very strong _yoma_ too."

"Wow; how were you even able to defeat it?" Ren asked curiously.

"I'll get to that part, don't be impatient," I said while leaning towards him to ruffle his hair.

I continued on to when I got thrown out the window and the injuries that I got. I wasn't looking forward to their reactions. Kazuma didn't look at all happy by what I said while Ren was speechless.

Ayano sighed, "You're so reckless all the time."

I rolled my eyes, "I could say the same to you too, Ayano."

"Humph," Ayano replied, turning her head away. I lightly chuckled when she did that.

"Don't push yourself too much today, Karai-nee-san," Ren said worriedly to me.

"I won't Ren," I responded to him, smiling.

Finally, I finished with the battle ending, the story between Tamaki and Sakura and our departure back home.

Ayano started to sniffle and tears dropped down her cheeks, "That's the saddest story I've ever heard!"

"At least Sakura and Tamaki got to see each other for the last time, right?" said Ren who was sniffling.

"I don't think it's the last time they'll ever see each other. If Sakura is able to go to the Soul Reaper Academy and become a fully-fledged Soul Reaper, she might be able to return to the world of the living and see him again," I said, smiling, while resting my head on my palm while leaning my elbow on the armrest. I didn't noticed Kazuma smile this time when I said that.

Ren nodded, "You're right. It's a good thing that Ichiru and you went there in the first place. Now we got more allies. Ichigo and Rukia sound like great people."

"Yes, they are," I agreed before looking out at the water. The amusement park was now visible.

"Hey look!" Ren exclaimed as everyone looked in the direction where the park was.

"There it is!" Ayano said happily. I just smiled at their excitement. Kazuma's face, on the other hand, looked priceless.

"So, that's what an amusement park looks like?" Kazuma asked.

"Wait a sec… are you saying that you've never been to an amusement park before?" Ayano asked with widened eyes.

"Yup, it's my first time," he answered. I was even surprised. Even when he was away, he still didn't go to an amusement park.

"What? You've never went with your friends when you were a kid?" Ayano asked.

"No, that would require having friends and the only friend that I had was Karai, and she was busy a lot," he said.

"You've never been on a school field trip or anything?" Ren asked him.

"Fun wasn't exactly a priority to the old man when I was a little kid. Only my training mattered," Kazuma said with his eyes closed.

"It's really hard for me to hear you say that, especially since your training was a waste of time," Ayano said with a cheeky smile.

"Ayano-nee-san!" Ren said.

She then looked at me, "What about you Onee-san?"

I nodded and crossed my arms while leaning back onto the seat, "When I had started doing missions a few years ago, I've been to a couple of parks in different cities, but it was only for business matters. I haven't been to this one yet. Like Kazuma said, training mattered, especially when you're a possible successor for the head of the family." Kazuma and I had quick eye contact before looking in different directions again.

When we got to our stop, we walked out and headed for the entrance of the amusement park, Dreamland.

Kazuma looked around curiously after we punched in our tickets at the gates and entered.

"You're gonna start drooling if you're not careful," Ayano indicated, amused by Kazuma's behavior.

"Well, excuse me…" Kazuma murmured. I just shook my head.

She then became serious, "So you think there's a spiritual disturbance here?"

"Don't know," he said as we all stopped, "But I plan on finding out."

"Hey! Look who it is!" someone exclaimed.

"Ren! What's up?" another person shouted.

We all turned our heads towards the source of the voices and saw two people, one girl and one boy, walking in our direction. They were probably Ren's friends.

"Oh hey Tatsuya. What's going on Kana?" Ren said.

They stopped in front of us. Ayano spoke up, "Oh hi, are you two from Ren's class?"

Kana bowed, "And you must be his family. I've heard so much, I feel like I know you already. I can't believe we're all here," she giggled.

I sweat dropped, _'I can't believe it either….'_

"It's so nice to finally meet you three in person. Ren and I are like best friends," she politely said.

Tatsuya spoke up this time, "Hi, I'm his real best friend, Tatsuya. Ren, I had no idea you were hanging out at the park today. Wow, what a coincidence, _but_ since you're here and we randomly ran into each other, we should hang out."

I sighed, _'Yeah, coincidence? I think not.'_

Ren looked at us, "Hey guys, do you mind if I spend time with my friends?"

"Sure, no problem," Kazuma told him.

I waved off a hand in agreement, "Yeah, it's fine by me. We'll catch up to you later."

Ayano looked concerned, "Are you guys sure about that? Cause I'd hate for Ren to be a third wheel. You really want him hanging around during your date?" she asked the two.

Ren's friends were shocked before glaring at one another. I could tell from their expressions that they didn't like each other at all, but that could possibly change in the future.

"This isn't a date!" they yelled before growling at each other.

"Hey you two, let's not fight. Let's try and have fun," Ren said, trying to be the peacemaker here.

They calmed down, "Okay, cool." "Yeah sure."

"All right then," Ren said before he and his friends walked off to the park, with him holding each of their hand.

"You okay?" Ayano asked Kazuma, "I thought that you wanted to spend some time with Ren?"

"It's not a big deal," Kazuma told her, "I don't care if he hangs out with me or with them. I just want him to have some fun."

"Look at you. If you keep this up, people might start accusing you of being a nice person. And I'd hate for your reputation to get ruined," she snickered.

"The only thing that is going to ruin my reputation is being seen in public with you," he retorted while walking towards the park.

A stress mark appeared on Ayano's head, "What does that mean?"

I sighed and started walking as well, "Ayano, calm down. You don't want to lose your temper here and get kicked out of the park now, do you? Come on, let's go." She was still fuming as we went into the amusement park.

I felt around the area and noticed no spiritual disturbance around. I was annoyed. Could it be that my tracking skills weren't working right now, the disturbance was really good at hiding or maybe that there really was no disturbance at all around this amusement park.

I glanced at Kazuma, wondering if he was in the same situation as I was. I decided that we'd look around first to confirm my thoughts.

"I think we should split up to cover more ground. We can probably get this case done quicker that way," I suggested to the two.

"Sure," Kazuma agreed.

"Wait, what about me?" Ayano mentioned.

I looked at her, "You can either go with me or Kazuma. It's your choice." Without a second thought, Ayano went over to my side, "There's no way I'm sticking with him after he insulted me like that!"

Kazuma shrugged, "Suit yourself," he said before going off into a direction while Ayano and I went through a different route.

After covering the whole park in an hour, I could safely say that there was no damn spiritual disturbance anywhere. Something was definitely up with this mission. Deciding to take a break, Ayano and I got some drinks for all of us.

We found Kazuma sitting on a bench, relaxing. Ayano handed him his drink which he accepted, "Thanks, I needed it." Ayano and I sat down in the same bench as all three of us were drinking our drinks.

Ayano chuckled at the sight of Kazuma, "You look like a father who's been chasing his little kid around. Are you all right?"

"Well, this place isn't exactly my cup of tea, that's for sure," Kazuma muttered.

"Think there is a threat out here?" Ayano asked.

"I've pretty much covered every square inch of this park and haven't found a thing. If the aura is here, it's doing a pretty damn good job of staying hidden. I'm guessing Karai feels the same way too," Kazuma explained before glancing at me.

I nodded, "Same thing… nothing."

"So, we probably don't have anything to worry about?" Ayano reasoned.

"Not sure. This bench isn't the exact center of everything. If something happens, we'll know," Kazuma told her before closing his eyes.

I saw the look in Ayano's face. She really wanted to go on the rides so badly.

"If you really want to play that bad, then just go," Kazuma said, noticing her desperation as well.

"Excuse me, but I'm not here to play. I don't know about you, but I came here to work," Ayano angrily said to him.

"Fine," he muttered.

"I'm not just some little kid, all right?" Ayano told him before looking all glum again while staring at a roller coaster as well as the people passing by us, looking like they're having fun.

I sighed, "Ayano, you can go if you really want to. Kazuma and I will be fine checking out for any disturbances."

Before she could answer me, someone yelled out to us, "Hey guys!"

We all turned to see who it was and my eyes widened at the sight of Ichiru walking towards us.

He stopped in front of us, "Hey what's up?"

"Ichiru, what are you doing here?" I asked him curiously.

He grinned, "Your Uncle told me to go help you guys out."

The corner of my mouth twitched, "How nice of him to send more back up, but we're all good here. There isn't a spiritual disturbance around… at least, we don't know for sure."

Ichiru nodded, "I haven't felt any either while I was coming here. If that's the case, how about you get off your lazy butts and go on some rides?"

"No thanks," Kazuma replied, closing his eyes once more.

"You know as well as I do that I'm still recovering. I don't want to break the rib again while it's still tender and become bedridden," I told him before an idea came to my head. I looked over at my sister, "_But_, Ayano really wanted to go so why don't you go take her?"

Ichiru smiled, "Sure, that is, if she wants to," he said, looking at her, "How about it? It's a really nice day outside."

Ayano blushed and also looked excited, but then she tried restraining herself, "I really shouldn't."

I put my hand on her back and pushed her forward so that she would stand up, "Stop being so damn stubborn and go play on the damn rides before you go ballistic. Just make sure not to go kill anybody."

"Are you sure about this, nee-san? Kazuma?" Ayano asked.

"Just go while we're still here," Kazuma said.

I nodded, "Have fun. We'll meet up with you later with Ren."

"Ok, if you're sure!" Ayano exclaimed while running off in a certain direction, dragging Ichiru with her, "Bye Karai, Kazuma." Ichiru quickly said before they disappeared into the crowd.

I giggled from the sight, causing my injured rib to hurt. I held my chest in pain while squeezing my eyes shut. A hand placed itself on my back, "Watch it. Don't strain yourself."

Once the pain subsided, I panted a bit before opening my eyes and looking to my right to see that Kazuma was the one who said that and had his hand on my back. He looked all concerned.

I _very _lightly laughed while rubbing the back of my neck, "Sorry about that. I couldn't help it." He released his hand from my body and went back to leaning against the bench. I did the same once I exhaled a good amount of air.

I glanced at Kazuma and decided to speak to him even though we weren't technically on "speaking" terms, "So… how you been?"

Kazuma shrugged, "Fine, I guess. I would ask you the same thing, but I already know the answer."

I nodded sheepishly before finishing up my drink. We remained silent for the next ten minutes. It was really awkward, especially for us. We've never been in this situation before… and it sucked.

I then heard a cough coming from Kazuma and faced him, looking directly at me.

"How about we go walk around?" he suggested, "Maybe we'll be able to actually sense a presence."

"Sure then; that should be fine," I replied before standing up and stretching my arms, "I could use more walking since I haven't been training lately."

Kazuma just stood up and placed his hands in his pocket, "Come on," he said before starting to walk in a certain direction. I followed right after him until I was by his side.

So for the past hour, we walked aimlessly around the park, keeping check for any spiritual disturbance. We still had no luck.

I sighed before pulling out my phone, "I'll call Father and update him on the situation. Let's sit down for now," I said before sitting on the bench. He just nodded and followed after me. I dialed my father's number and placed it by my ear as I waited for him to answer.

After a few rings, it went to voicemail. I sighed and put my phone back into my pocket before leaning my back on the bench and looking up to the sky, "I guess he's busy."

"Probably…" Kazuma responded. Silence came once again. I was annoyed.

'_All right, I've had enough of this… it's time to get this over with,' _I thought.

I leaned forward and turned to face Kazuma, "Look, I'm-," I started to say, but was cut off, "I'm sorry." I looked at him surprised while he was looking forward before moving his gaze to me, "I'm sorry… for upsetting you."

I sighed before looking down in shame, "No… I'm sorry for starting the stupid fight in the first place. I shouldn't have tried to get something out of you if you weren't ready to tell me yet. It's not like I control your life."

"I forgive you; but you were just concerned since I left you without a word. You had every right to snap at me," Kazuma replied.

I shook my head and turned my head in the other direction, "It's not all right. That was very immature for someone like me. I shouldn't have let my anger get the best of me like that. I could have injured you or someone in the restaurant if I wasn't being careful."

Before I knew it, I was pulled into a hug by Kazuma with one arm going around my waist while a hand was on the back of my head, bringing me close.

"I think that's enough apologizing for one night, don't you think," he whispered in my ear.

I nodded before wrapping my arms around his neck and resting my head on Kazuma's shoulder, "I missed you…" I softly said. His head rested on the side of mine, "Me too…"

"These past few hours were _complete _and _utter_ hell…" I whined. He lightly chuckled, "They definitely were."

"Aw, what a cute couple."

We turned our heads to see people staring at us while walking by. Kazuma and I blushed and broke away. The people laughed before going their own ways.

Kazuma cleared his throat and looked at me, "How about we take this somewhere else. There's something else I want to tell you."

I just nodded, still red from the embarrassment. Soon, we stood up, hand in hand, and walked.

A smile formed in my face. Relief filled in me, knowing that the tension between us was finally over. I had no idea where we were going, but I didn't say anything, just wanting to enjoy the moment. I followed Kazuma through the crowds to wherever he was leading us which I soon figured out was the Ferris wheel.

This would be my first time on it even though I've been to amusement parks before, and judging from the fact that Kazuma has never been to these kinds of parks, this was most likely his first time as well. I didn't really care much for this ride, or any of the rides when I went to the other amusement parks, but seeing how I wasn't in a serious mission right now, I was kind of… excited.

I stared up at the huge contraption before being led into one of the moving gondolas by Kazuma. The door closed behind us and we both sat on one side. Kazuma closed his eyes with his head forward.

I raised an eyebrow, confused, "So… what did you want to tell me?"

"Just… hold on," he said to me, still in the same position.

I frowned and waited as the ride continued and our gondola kept going up. Light was now shining in our compartment, coming from behind me.

I turned around and my eyes widened at the breathtaking sunset over the horizon. I moved closer to my window in awe. I looked further down and observed the view below. It was funny to see everyone looking like little ants. I've never even been this high up while flying except when I was in my private jet.

Soon, the sun disappeared with the moon glistening up in the sky in its place. The whole park was now engulfed in brilliant lights. This was truly nice. I could see why Kazuma said to wait.

At some point, I was able to get a glimpse of Ayano and Ichiru looking up at the ride that Kazuma and I was in. I'm guessing that they were checking out the lights on the Ferris wheel.

"Hey, I can see Ayano and Ichiru from up here," I mentioned to Kazuma.

"I think I see Ren also," he replied. I turned around, seeing him looking down before I leaned to his side of the window to check for myself. Kana was dragging Ren while their other friend, Tatsuya, was chasing after them.

I laughed, "Looks like they're having fun."

A sharp pain erupted from my healing wound. I squeezed my eyes shut once again and held my left hand to my tender spot before sitting back down, "Oh god, I feel like I'm going to die from laughing." I kept my left hand in the same place while placing my right hand right next to me on the seat.

"Are you going to be all right?" he asked worriedly, "That's twice that that happened."

I waved off a hand, with my eyes still closed, "Of course I'm going to be all right." I didn't hear a response from him after that and opened my eyes to see what he was doing. He was just gazing at me.

I looked at him, confused, before tilting my head, "What?"

Unexpectedly, he placed his left hand on top of mine that was on the seat while slowly reaching his other hand out until it rested on my cheek. What happened next surprised me.

"I love you," he affectionately confessed.

My eyes widened, "You-," I started to say before he cut me off, "Let me speak first." I shut my mouth and listened to him.

"I've always loved you, even before my banishment. When I went to China, though, I met someone else and fell in love with her. Her name was Tsui Ling," he started to explain. I waited for him to continue.

"Now that I think about it, the reason that I was attracted to her in the first place was because she reminded me of you," he said, giving a laugh. I gave a small smile.

He then looked down with a troubled look, "Sometime later, she died… because of me."

Kazuma paused before continuing, "Since my return here, I've been hurting because of her, not realizing that I was hurting you at the same time…" he said before looking at me sadly.

I sighed before turning my head to the side, "Kazu-."

Before I could finish, two hands were placed on either side of my face, turning my head back before I felt a pair of lips on my own. I was shocked with widened eyes from the kiss, but after coming out of the shock, my eyelids slowly closed and soon, I was kissing back.

We pulled apart and I placed my hands behind his head. Crimson eyes were locked into my own before I looked at him seriously, "I love you too, and I may not know much right now, but I can see it in your eyes that you still need to heal. I just want you to know that I will be there for you if you ever need me, okay?" He took both my hands and kissed my knuckles, "I will and I'm sorry for putting you through that."

Kazuma then chuckled, "You should thank Ayano for knocking me into my senses."

I looked at him dumbfounded, "Ayano?" He nodded and I just laughed before we kissed again; more passionately this time.

Once the ride was over, we walked out with his arm around my shoulders and my arms around his waist, holding each other close, not caring anymore if people were watching.

We walked towards Ayano, Ichiru, Ren and his friends once we saw them. Ichiru and Ren were watching as Kana ran and hugged Ayano while arguing with Tatsuya.

Once they noticed our presences, Ayano, Ichiru and Ren just stared at us until we ended up in front of them.

"What?" Kazuma asked, like nothing was wrong.

"Looks like Operation: Get K&K to Get Along was a major success, right guys?" Ichiru grinned, nudging Ayano and Ren by their shoulders. They just laughed nervously.

"We knew that there was something fishy with this mission," I said, shaking my head, "But I didn't think Uncle Daichi had anything to do with it."

"Jugo set this all up, didn't he?" Kazuma asked, looking at Ren.

"And all of you were involved with the plan, I presume?" I added, raising an eyebrow.

Ren looked down, "Ichiru and Ayano were at first, but then when you decided to bring me, he told me to invite some friends to have an excuse to leave since Ichiru was supposed to get Ayano away from the two of you," he explained.

"Well, we appreciate your honesty," Kazuma said.

I looked at Ayano to see what she had to say.

"Sorry Onee-san, but Father felt that he should try something to get you guys talking again somehow," Ayano explained.

"Yeah, but we didn't think that this was going to happen," Ichiru laughed, referring to our closeness, "I guess you guys are a couple now, huh?"

I smiled, "I guess we are. Are we?" I asked Kazuma curiously, looking up at him.

Kazuma responded by leaning down and giving me a kiss before pulling away our faces an inch apart. He smirked, "Of course," he answered before pulling back more.

"Oh please, can you guys not do that right now. You just started going out a few minutes ago and you're already making out in public," Ayano disgustedly said.

I just smiled at her, "And it's all thanks to you, Ayano."

She blushed and turned her back to everyone with crossed arms, "I don't know what you're talking about."

"If you say so," Kazuma said, shrugging his shoulders. I just shook my head.

A loud noise was heard in the direction of the Ferris wheel. We all turned to watch the colorful fireworks shooting up into the sky. While everyone was focused on the beautiful display, Kazuma tightened his hold on me. Feeling it, I looked up at him and saw a hint of disturbance in his face, "What's wrong?"

He shook his head and forced a smile at me, "It's nothing," he replied. I knew it was not nothing, but I didn't push it further and just leaned up to peck his lips, "If you're sure," I said before leaning my head onto his chest and continued to watch the fireworks.

_**Kazuma's Point of View**_

I looked down at Karai and smiled as she laid her head on my chest. I was really happy that we finally ended up together and I'm guessing she was too, but was it enough…? I sighed before looking back up at the sky.

As we watched the fireworks, I couldn't help but think: how long will it take before I can completely move on from Tsui Ling? Or if I ever will?

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**End of the chapter! =D**

**I'll get right to work on chapter 19 and hopefully also some more pre-written chapters! **

**Please Review!**


	20. Dinner Disaster Part 1

**Chapter 19: Dinner Disaster Part 1**

**Dark-Flame Alchemist: Next chapter up! :D Thanks to BleedinLuva1123 for reviewing last chapter! **

**Karai: You finally got your lazy self to upload this chapter when you could have done it earlier in the week… *crosses arms before shaking her head in shame***

**Dark-Flame Alchemist: yes, yes I did. Now explain to me why you are here when you should be inside my head…  
**

**Karai: *shrugs* No reason… besides the fact we decided to show ourselves since you didn't bother to.**

**Dark-Flame Alchemist: *sweat drops* ok… this is all awesome… I guess… but we really need to start the chapter so I'd appreciate it if you would do the disclaimer since you are here anyway.**

**Ayano: *appears* Hey! Why can't I do it?**

**Kazuma: *appears* Ayano, if you ever want to do the disclaimer, you need to stop all… this. *referring to her whole being***

**Ayano: *frowns* you just gestured to all of me…**

**Karai, Kazuma and Dark-Flame Alchemist: Yes.**

**Ayano: *growls* whatever; just get it over with already! I don't need you guys doing a reference from How to Train a Dragon!**

**Dark-Flame Alchemist: Ah, that was a good movie…**

**Karai: Anyways… Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma and hopes you enjoy this chapter.**

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_**Karai's Point of View**_

It's been a month and a half since Kazuma and I started going out. When Father heard the news of our relationship, he was ecstatic and was glad that we weren't fighting anymore and so did Uncle. Also, my wound had finally healed after two weeks so I was all good to fight.

Other than that, things didn't change as much besides Kazuma and I getting close which sometimes annoyed Ayano, but she has gotten used to us being together, sort of. She would use the advantage to complain to me whenever she was angry with him over something and expected me to do something about it. I tell her most of the time to just let it be since it is over little things.

Tonight, I was going to stay over at Kazuma's after finishing up a solo case late at night in the city which I had just completed not too long ago. I was too tired to go all the way back home and I really didn't want to stay at a hotel room.

Kazuma already knew since I asked him in the morning and of course, he was fine with it. Ichiru was making fun of me, saying that we're going to end up doing things, but I assured him that we weren't going to do any of that after whacking him upside the head.

I entered the building that he was staying at and went to the front desk where the receptionist was.

"Excuse me, but which room is Kazuma Yagami's?" I asked.

"Mr. Yagami is staying up at the penthouse. I'm glad you're more polite than that other girl who was yelling at me where he was staying a few weeks ago," the receptionist mentioned.

'_Ayano…' _I thought, shaking my head before bowing, "Thank you so much and I'm sorry for my sister's rude behavior."

"It's all right. I've seen worse than that. Have a good night," he replied, waving a hand off.

I smiled, "You too," I said before going to the elevator to the top floor. Once the doors opened, I stepped out and knocked on the door.

Kazuma answered, dressed in his sleepwear which consisted of blue pajama pants and no shirt on, showing off his bare chest. I blushed a bit.

He smirked, "Like what you see?"

The blush went away and I rolled my eyes at him, "Shut up," I replied, going up to him and lightly punching his chest.

He chuckled, pulling me towards him by grabbing my hips before leaning down and giving me a kiss. I wrapped my arms around his neck and kissed back.

We pulled away and he smiled, "How was your mission?" I rested my head on his shoulder, "I'm exhausted; it's late and I just want to go to sleep…"

"Is that _all_ you want to do?" he asked, like he was implying something.

"_Yes_," I muttered.

"All right, come on," he replied before he led him to his bathroom. I wasn't paying much attention to how the place looked like since I was focused on going to bed. When we got there, I walked in and placed my bag on the toilet. I felt eyes watching my back and turned around to see Kazuma leaning on the doorway with crossed arms, like he was waiting for something.

A stress mark appeared on my head, "Do you need something?"

"Nope," he said with a smirk.

I tilted my head and gave an annoyed smiled, "Then can you leave so I can get changed? Or would you like me to slam the door on your face so that you get the message."

He gave in and put his hands up in defense, "Ok, ok… if you _need_ help, just call me," he said before closing the door behind him.

I just shook my head, smiling, before getting changed into a black tank top and white pajama pants. I placed the dirty clothes I was wearing in another bag and put that in my main bag. After I finished up brushing my teeth and whatever else I needed to do, I put my bag on the side with my boots.

I walked out of the bathroom and closed the lights before closing the door. Kazuma was already in the bed, sitting up with his lower half of his body under the covers. When he saw me, he smiled and patted the empty side of the bed, gesturing me to go in with him.

I smiled and climbed in before snuggling up next to him with his arm around me, "Thank you for letting me stay over."

"You're welcome. Besides, I wouldn't let a chance like this slip up, now would I?" he cheekily said.

I shook my head, "Yeah, yeah… so I heard from Ayano that you pissed her off again?" I stated before looking up at him. I may have wanted to sleep already, but I wanted to talk to Kazuma a little first before I did.

He sighed, "When do I ever not get her upset?" he replied, stroking my hair.

"She said that you were taking a nap on your last case and left her to defeat the _yoma _on her own," I mentioned.

He shrugged, "Well, I knew she could handle it, so I left her to it. Besides, you know her. She doesn't know when to make up her mind whether she wants my help or not."

I nodded, "You're right, but… could you try to get along with her when we go to the business dinner in two days?" I asked him.

"You should be telling that to little miss hot-head, but I'll do my best," he said, sighing before he looked down at me.

I smiled and leaned up while he leaned down and we shared a kiss. We released and I went back to laying my head on his chest with my arm over him.

"So what's this dinner about again?" he asked.

I rolled my eyes, "One of my family's clients wants to discuss about a previous mission I had concerning them. They said I could bring up to two guests so I'd thought I'd bring you and Ayano."

"And why are you bringing Ayano too?" he asked, probably thinking that I was crazy for thinking up such a plan.

"Well, if she is to become head of the Kannagi family, she should start learning how to go to such meetings. It will be a good experience for her. Father even agreed," I explained.

He nodded, "That makes sense, but those events are so boring." I could tell that he wasn't looking forward to it.

I chuckled and looked up at him, "Don't worry, it shouldn't be too long. I arranged another table for afterwards. These clients that we are meeting usually only stick around for appetizers and I thought it'd be a waste for such an expensive restaurant if we had done the same."

"Good; at least we'll spend some time together, even though Ayano is there too," he said with satisfaction, yet annoyance.

"Yeah… we do still need to go on a date with just the two of us. It sucks that we've been busy for the past few weeks," I said, sighing.

"We will in time. Now let's get some sleep," Kazuma replied, "You did say you were tired."

"You're right, my eyes are drooping," I softly said as a yawn came out.

Kazuma released me and leaned to his right to turn off the light before we went back to the same position. He kissed my forehead and placed his chin on top of my head that was on his chest, "Night."

"Goodnight," I said before falling asleep quickly.

~…~

It was the night of the dinner. Ayano and I were headed for the restaurant in my limo while Kazuma was going to meet us there.

Ayano was wearing a pink sleeveless dress that went down to her knees and connected to her neck with a flower just below. She also had matching fingerless pink gloves that went a little past her elbows and pink heeled shoes. Her hair was still the same like she always kept it.

As for myself, I was wearing a silver sleeveless dress that went up to my thighs, black fingerless gloves that went up to my wrists and black high-heeled shoes. My hair was up in a messy bun and I also applied some makeup. To match my outfit, I also had my small silver hand purse that contained my cell phone, wallet and other necessary stuff.

"Onee-san."

I turned my head from facing the window to see what Ayano wanted, "Yeah?"

She smiled, "Thank you for bringing me with you."

I nodded, "It's no problem at all. You're welcome."

"I just wish Kazuma wasn't there. He is so annoying," she stated with a scowl.

"Ayano…," I said, giving her a serious look.

"I know. I'll try not to lose my temper," she said, sighing in defeat. The car suddenly stopped.

The employee outside opened the door and I stepped out first before Ayano did. I smiled at the one who opened the car door, "Thank you." He just nodded.

"Hey."

I turned to see Kazuma standing there, smiling at me. He was wearing a formal suit and kept his usual hair style.

I smiled, walking up to him to give him a quick kiss.

"You look amazing," he complimented me.

"You don't look too bad yourself," I replied.

Ayano, who was standing not too far from us, cleared her throat, "Can we go inside already? I don't want to stay out here and watch you guys being all lovey-dovey, if you don't mind."

"I hope you're hungry," Kazuma said to Ayano.

"I am, thank you very much," Ayano said arrogantly, "And I'm still mad at you, so since you're paying, I won't forgive you unless I order anything I want, no matter how expensive."

He sighed, "Anything you want…"

"Are you sure you want to pay the whole bill? The reason we're here anyway is because of me," I asked, concerned, "I could pay for half."

"Don't worry about it; it's fine. You invited us and made the reservations so I'll pay the bill," he answered me. I nodded, knowing that he wasn't going to change his mind.

Kazuma then held an arm out to each of us. I gladly looped my arm to his right while Ayano was a bit skeptical at first before going to his other side and holding onto his arm. Soon, we were off to enter the building.

We walked into the elevator until were at the top floor where the roof was which consisted of a mall. We kept on moving until we were at the restaurant and I told the waiter the name of the client.

He led us to a round table that seated eight people, with three spots left for us. I greeted everyone there and introduced Kazuma and Ayano before we sat down. The meeting immediately began.

_**Twenty minutes later…**_

After the meeting had ended and I said my goodbyes, I informed the waiter of my other reserved table and he led us there. It was a rectangle-shaped table with four chairs.

Kazuma sat on a chair next to the window with me sitting across from him and Ayano right next to me.

After giving our orders, I leaned my elbows on the table, resting my chin on my hands before looking at Ayano, "So what did you think? Besides the fact that it was boring," I curiously asked.

"It was… interesting. I never knew how these sorts of dinners were like since I've never attended them before," she answered, "You handled yourself pretty well though."

"Yeah, I got used to it," I replied, shrugging, "You just need to practice."

Kazuma let out a yawn, "That talk made me want to take a nap. How about we change the subject?"

Ayano, remembering that she was angry with him in the first place, looked like she was going to snap at him, but I gave her a look telling her to calm down. She did.

I then turned and faced Kazuma to give him a look as well, causing him to shrug like he didn't do anything wrong. I just rolled my eyes. Our meals and drinks came soon after and we started eating.

The water came back a few minutes later and held out a wine bottle in front of Kazuma, "Chateau Mangot, 2003."

"That's fine," Kazuma replied before looking at me, "You want some?" I nodded and gave him my glass. The waiter poured wine in our glasses before leaving our table.

Kazuma handed me my glass back. I swirled it before taking a sip. I smacked my lips, checking out the taste. I gave a satisfying look, "Hmm, not bad," I said before taking another sip.

"Hey, you want to try a glass of wine?" he asked Ayano.

"What? No way! You know I don't drink," she replied, turning her head to side.

"Oh yeah, no booze for you. I forgot… you're not old enough yet."

I sighed and took a sip of my wine; suddenly I felt this odd presence in the area and looked over at Kazuma who was looking at something in the ceiling with a worried look. I turned to see a dark aura disappearing.

'_Oh great…_ _of all the times…,' _I annoyingly thought. I decided to go find it myself. If Ayano took care of it, then she would probably damage the place.

I stood up, "I'll be right back," I replied, looking at Kazuma who knew what I was going to do. He nodded, "Be careful."

"Uh Kazuma, she's just going to the restroom. You make it sound like she's not coming back or something," Ayano stated before taking another bite of her food.

I rolled my eyes and laid one of my hands on top of Kazuma's, "I'll be fine," I assured him before pulling my hand away and pushing my seat in. "You two behave," I said, giving them stern looks before leaving.

So on I went, trailing after the aura that was disturbing this building. I was wondering what I was going to do when I did find it, considering that there were people around.

Screams and shouts could be heard. Looks like I didn't have to think about it at all, because suddenly, people started rushing out of the area until there was nobody around.

"Well, that's one thing I don't have to worry about. I hope Kazuma and Ayano are fine," I said to myself before concentrating to sense where the dark aura was. Once I targeted it, I swung my hand to the side, materializing Kaito Enraiha, before I left to go get the aura.

As I was running, I saw the little devil zoom past me until it went over the railing and down to the level below me, "I got you now," I shouted before grabbing the rail, going over it and letting go before I started falling down down. I then hovered into the level where the evil aura was and ran after it. I swung my sword and shot several fireballs; small ones, though, so that it wouldn't do that much damage to the place.

From my multiple attacks, I was only able to graze the aura once. I growled. This weak enemy shouldn't even be taking this long and here I am running around.

Suddenly, it turned a corner. I slid to a stop to halt myself before turning in the direction it went. It did it again, causing me to do the same.

'_Damn this thing is fast! It's causing me to go around in a damn circle!' _I thought while continuing to go after the dark aura. It was like taunting me. Before I knew it, it went out of the level and up to the one that I was originally at. I was about to do the same, when I saw some more people running down the stairs, causing me to stop. Oh great, it looks like they didn't leave yet like those other people did earlier.

All of a sudden, some of the men who were wearing helmets, gloves, masks covering their mouths and glasses started shooting at the ceiling with their guns. Everyone stopped and covered their heads, bending down.

'_This is not good…' _I thought before de-materializing Kaito Enraiha for now so that I wouldn't draw attention to myself since not that many people know about magic users.

One of the guys, who I presumed was the leader, started yelling, "All right, I don't know what was going on in there, but now that that's out of the way, I want you guys to go towards the wall and put your hands up so that me and my guys can finish what we started." _'Nice grammar by the way…' _I thought, rolling my eyes.

The people started doing what he said, with his guys ushering them to move along while I just stood there. One of the men noticed me, "You there! Do what he says!" he ordered. I just stood there with crossed arms, not budging.

He growled and walked towards me until he was in front of me and held his gun facing me, "I don't want to have to use force on a hot piece of meat like yourself, but I might have to if you don't comply with our demands."

I slowly took a few steps towards him before doing a sudden spin kick to knock the weapon out of his hands, causing it to fly down to the first floor. He was shocked, yet pissed, "Why you little-!" he started to say, but I brought my knee up and hit him where it hurts, causing him to bend down and leave his neck vulnerable. I hit it instantly and he got knocked out. I bent down to speak to his unconscious body, "That's for calling me a piece of meat."

"Hey you! What did you do to him?"

I turned my head to see all of the guys looking at me now, all four of them, including the leader. They all directed their guns in my direction. I materialized Kaito Enraiha and went into battle stance. I wasn't really supposed to be doing this, but I had no choice right now since I had no other weapon to use and I had to help these people right away.

"What the hell?"

"Who is she?"

"Oh my god! It's a magic user!"

"A what?"

They all didn't know what to make of me, considering only one of them knew what I was. Even the hostages turned their heads from the wall to see what they were talking about and were surprised.

The leader smirked, "Don't worry men; we can take her down, even with her hocus-pocus."

I snorted, "Don't underestimate me. Now if you guys don't want me to whoop your asses and let you guys get sent to jail, I suggest you release these people and be on your merry way."

The leader paid no heed to my words, "Men, after her!" They all charged for me. I sighed, "I really don't have time for this," I muttered to myself before running towards them.

They tried shooting at me, but I swiftly dodged all the bullets before shooting small fireballs at their feet to distract them. Too busy trying to get the flames out of their shoes, I was able to knock another of them out. I turned around so that I was facing the remaining two.

They quickly turned towards me and started firing. I rolled to my right before grabbing the railing and jumping over the edge. I hovered onto the other side and started running to my left to dodge the bullets.

I hid behind a pillar for a few seconds to de-materialize Kaito Enraiha before running and throwing fireballs on their side as they shot at me until I got to the next pillar. I heard a shriek and a splash when I was doing that, meaning that there was one more left before I faced the leader.

I took a peek from where I was and glanced down to see the fallen guy floating in the fountain, but I couldn't see where the last guy was. When I turned my head back, I felt a small pain as a bullet grazed my cheek. I put a hand to it and saw a little blood. Quickly, I removed myself from the pillar and turned to face the last guy who was now on the same side of the level that I was on, smirking at me since he was able to catch me off guard.

Wanting to take the guy out quick, I ran in his direction, putting up a fire shield to disintegrate the bullets. He just kept on shooting while I was running.

At some point, his gun ran out of ammo and he tried to reload as fast as he could, but it was too late. I smirked before jumping and doing a spinning kick in the air before knocking him into the wall. He didn't move.

I materialized Kaito Enraiha once again and walked in the direction where the leader was until I was at a good distance from him with my sword at hand. He continued to point his gun at me, fear starting to get to him. The hostages remained near the wall, watching us.

"Give it up. I already took down your group. Do you really expect to win?" I asked him, curious with what he was going to do next.

He growled and pulled a smaller gun out with his free hand, facing it at the hostages who were scared out of their wits as he continued to point his main gun at me, "I might have a chance," he replied before putting an arm around a random woman and placing the gun to her head, "What are you going to do now?" he smirked under his mask.

I scowled, "Now that's just playing dirty."

He shrugged, "We all need to do whatever it takes to survive. Now, put away your weapon and put your hands behind your head."

Not having a plan what to do at the moment, I complied and de-materialized Kaito Enraiha before positioning my hands behind my head.

He smirked, "Now, I want you to- UHH!" he shouted before crashing into the ground, unconscious. The woman he took hostage went back to her husband, sobbing with happiness that she was alive. Standing there was some guy smirking down at the fallen leader after knocking him out, "That's no way to treat a lady."

I just stared at the guy, surprised as he turned his onyx eyes towards me, "You all right there, Miss?"

* * *

**Dark-Flame Alchemist: Cliffhanger! The next part of chapter 19 will be up in two weeks! By the way, do you think I should allow characters to talk in the chapter and do the disclaimer or not? **

**Karai: I think you should.**

**Kazuma: It would be more interesting**** to read than those boring author notes you put up. I even fall asleep reading them. **

**Dark-Flame Alchemist: You what? *growls before sighing in defeat* you're right… I do make them long sometimes… but **_**they **_**are usually important or else I wouldn't write them in the first place.**

**Karai: just try it out for now.**

**Kazuma: if it doesn't work, just don't add Ayano.**

**Ayano: Hey!  
**

**Dark-Flame Alchemist: all right then… now finish this so we can go already.**

**Karai and Ayano: bye everyone! Don't forget to review!**

**Dark-Flame Alchemist: Kazuma… why didn't you say anything?**

**Kazuma: because I'm too cool for that...**

***Karai and Ayano glare at him***


	21. Dinner Disaster Part 2

**Chapter 20: Dinner Disaster Part 2**

**Dark-Flame Alchemist: Well, here's the next chapter! Karai and Kazuma are here to disclaimer today.**

**Kazuma: *yawns* Awesome…**

**Dark-Flame Alchemist: *frowns* well you seem enthusiastic. **

**Karai: He's just bored as always. **

**D-F Alchemist: *sighs* of course… anyways, thanks to those who reviewed! X) Hope you enjoy this one!**

**Karai and Kazuma: DarkFlame Alchemist doesn't own Kaze no Stigma.**

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_**Karai's Point of View**_

I nodded at the guy who just saved me a whole lot of trouble.

"That's good," he replied, still standing there. I took a good look at him: he was taller than me by a few inches, had a muscular figure, spiky hair that hung over both sides of his face, onyx eyes and pale skin. He looked like he could be a member of the Uchiha clan, but I had never seen him before. If he was, maybe he was from a lower branch. I should ask him.

I put my hands to my side, walked towards him and bowed before straightening myself up, "Thank you for finishing that guy up for me, umm…?"

He smirked and held his hand out to me, "The name's Sasuke. You were pretty amazing back there, Miss…? "

I smiled as I gently grabbed his hand and shook, "Karai Uchiha."

Before I could let go, he brought up my hand close to his lips, "I knew it; the young and famous head of the Uchiha family. I heard from rumors that you were pretty, but now that I've seen you, I think that you're ravishing," he said, kissing my hand.

I blushed a bit as I slowly took my hand back, not knowing whether that was a compliment or if he was just flirting, "Umm, I'm guessing you're a magic user yourself then, I assume."

"You could say that," Sasuke said, winking at me.

I nodded and decided to ask him the question that I had been meaning to ask, "You wouldn't happen to be an Uchiha, would you?" I asked curiously.

He tilted his head and smirked, "Why? Do I look like one?"

"Yeah…you really do," I replied slowly. _'Well, that doesn't answer my question… but I guess he's not if he didn't say anything now,'_ I thought before realizing that I had something else to do and shouldn't be wasting my time here, "Oh shit, I've got to go finish up something," I said when I remembered the guys on the floor.

Sasuke waved a hand, "I'll take care of everything here while you go do what you have to do."

"Oh. Well, thank you," I responded, "And thanks for all your help again Sasuke; it was nice meeting you."

"You too," he said, grinning, "I hope we run into each other again."

I felt that he was up to something, but I didn't have time for that. I ran up the stairs, not knowing that Sasuke was staring at my back intensely.

Once I got to the floor that I was originally at, I saw Kazuma on the other side… with the dark aura! I saw Ayano running in his direction, wielding Enraiha. She was chasing after some winged man statue that had a sword. I noticed that the bottom of her dress was torn, causing me to frown since I helped pay for it.

I then looked at the moving statue very closely and suspiciously, "Now where have I seen that thing before?" I sarcastically said to myself, knowing very well whose spiritual beast that was.

Once she was near Kazuma, Ayano yelled, "Out of my way!" before she swung Enraiha at the dark aura, purifying and defeating it before continuing to go after the statue. She probably didn't even realize that Kazuma was there in the first place.

I sweat dropped before face-palming and muttering to myself, "Are you serious? Ayano wasn't even paying attention and she defeated that thing in one go!"

I groaned before walking over to Kazuma who heard me. I now felt all the running and dodging that I've been doing with my now aching feet and arms.

As soon as I was a few feet away from him, he walked towards me and placed both hands on my shoulders, looking concerned, especially when he noticed my cheek, "What happened to you? You look like you've been through hell and back."

I sighed, "I think I did," I replied before telling him what I've been up to.

"Other than that, there was really no point in me chasing around that annoying presence if Ayano defeated it that fast," I finished while frowning.

"I'm sorry," he said, giving me a hug, "Ayano and I would have dealt with those guys, but some chick decided to go challenge Ayano for Enraiha. Besides, you're probably just irritated because of the aura which causes people to act that way."

"That makes sense…," I said, starting to feel calm now, "Hey, she wouldn't happen to have blonde hair, bright blue eyes and a rather annoying laugh, would she?" I asked, trying to confirm my thoughts.

He pulled away and looked at me confused, "As a matter of fact, yes... Do you know her?"

I nodded, "She challenged me for Kaito Enraiha a year ago when I went to America and of course, she lost and never bothered me again. I should have known that she would have tried to go after Enraiha instead. We'd better go see how she's doing."

"All right," he said before we ran off to find my hot-headed half-sister.

When we found her, she was panting as the spiritual beast was regenerating again after Ayano had slashed it. Behind the beast was the American fire mage who tried to take Kaito Enraiha from me, Catherine McDonald. She had long blonde hair with curls hanging down the sides of her face, bright blue eyes, a red jacket, long pink skirt and a red head band.

Ayano noticed us and yelled, "Kazuma! Karai! Where have you guys been? What have you been doing this whole time?"

"Hey, I was busy looking for the evil aura when I got caught up with something," I said, frowning.

"You ran right by me earlier and didn't realize I was standing there. Whatever, look, can you just hurry up and finish already? I'm starving," Kazuma replied. I jabbed him with my elbow for thinking about eating at a time like this.

"Trust me, if I knew how to end this, I would, okay?" Ayano exclaimed.

"But you're going about it all wrong. You're fighting it instead of defeating it," Kazuma explained to her.

"What does that even mean?" she yelled at him before looking at me, "Karai! Can't you help me out here?"

"Karai? As in, Karai Uchiha?" Catherine said, taking a glimpse at me before recognizing me right away. She smirked, "Well, I haven't seen you in a while."

I smirked right back, "Catherine McDonald. It's been what? A year since I kicked your butt? And now you end up trying to get my sister's family sword instead? Now that's sad."

She growled, "I am far stronger now than I was before! Besides, since we had an honorable battle, I thought I'd go with the other best fire magic family," Catherine replied before realizing something, "Hold on, this little brat is your sister?" she replied, pointing at Ayano.

I nodded, "Yup."

She did her annoying laugh, not believing it, "Really now? I don't know how that's possible, but if that's the case, then I feel so sorry for you."

That made Ayano mad and she turned to me right away, "Nee-sama! You defeated her before! Tell me what I should do!"

I was about to tell her when Kazuma placed a hand on my shoulder, "Karai, let her figure this out on her own. She's a big girl."

I sighed, knowing that he was right, "Sorry Ayano. Kazuma's right. This will be another good experience for you. Besides, I know that you can do it, but if you are struggling, then I will help out somehow."

"Oh and one more thing, he's back," Kazuma stated before placing an arm around my shoulder to make sure that I didn't interfere.

Ayano turned her head forward and saw the spiritual beast known as Metatron charging for her. She slashed the upper torso of the statue again.

"It's all over for you missy. Enraiha is as good as mine," Catherine confidently said.

"If you couldn't even get Kaito Enraiha, how do you expect to get Enraiha? I'm certain that Ayano will defeat you," I declared.

"Oh please, she's taking a longer time defeating Metatron than you did. At this point, she's done for," Catherine rebutted.

Ayano nodded in gratitude to me before thinking what she could do. She turned around to see Metatron finishing up regenerating, "It's coming back so fast!" Ayano exclaimed before turning to look at Catherine, noticing her panting.

She then turned back around to fully face Metatron, both hands on Enraiha, starting to pant herself. I could see that she was analyzing her situation calmly which was good.

Her face suddenly looked like she realized what she had to do as she said lowly, "Now I get it." She de-materialized Enraiha which surprised Catherine.

Ayano then closed her eyes and stood still, concentrating her energy. Catherine pointed an arm at Ayano, "All right! Destroy her!" She commanded Metatron.

The statue neared her, but fire circled around Ayano and now Metatron too.

"Metatron?" Catherine said nervously as it just stood in the flames.

Ayano's hair was blowing around as she continued to concentrate, "By the power of the Kannagi purifying flame, return this spirit back to its original form!" Metatron dissolved until it was just blob on the floor.

I then started to become nervous, wondering if Ayano knew what would happen next as a result of her attack. I looked up at Kazuma, "Umm, I think we should start getting out of here."

"Yeah, I know. Give it a few more seconds," Kazuma replied.

"You stopped him…," Catherine frowned.

Ayano's fire disappeared and she was now facing Catherine, "It was easy. Once it's mixed with your magic, Metatron's heterogeneous fire turns into unnatural distortion. So, all I did was purify him from the inside out just like I would any other _yoma_."

"No… do you realize what you've done? Now the power of the fire spirits that constructed Metatron will be released inside this building," Catherine said with a nervous look.

Ayano looked surprised as the Metatron blob started moving strangely until it exploded behind her.

"I suggest we get out of here now. Come on, I'll get miss princess over there while you find us a way out," Kazuma said before going to Ayano without waiting for my response.

Seeing that we had nowhere else to go, I took out Kaito Enraiha and swung my sword to send a stream of fire at the window, breaking the glass, but giving us an escape route.

Catherine zoomed right past me with a newly formed Metatron. I looked back to see Kazuma with Ayano in his arms. He nodded at me which told me that we were all good to go.

I nodded before turning forward and jumping off the building. I did a flip before I started hovering to a safe distance from the building. Suddenly, windows started to break from the roof of the building and smoke was everywhere.

I shook my head, _'Ayano still did damage on the place after all…'_ I thought just as I saw the two fly next to me.

"Oh boy," Kazuma said while looking down. I just sighed.

"Uh, thanks for saving my life, Kazuma," Ayano nervously said in his arms.

"So, little Miss Kannagi, since there's obviously not a clear winner, I'll call it a draw for tonight," Catherine said as she was sitting on Metatron's shoulder. _'She just doesn't know when to quit, does she?' _I thought.

"What?" Ayano exclaimed, "This was not a draw! I totally kicked your butt. Do you want me to purify your little man again if you're not convinced?"

"Uh! This thing is not over! I can promise you that! I'm not going to lose to someone like you! I'll take you down if it's the last thing I do!" she said before she laughed and flew away.

"I always hated that stupid laugh of hers," I said, frowning.

"I'd like to see you try!" she shouted while flailing her arms and legs about, "If you ever show your face around here again, I'll teach you the true meaning of a beat down, you hear me?"

"Umm, Ayano? I think we got bigger problems right now," I said, pointing to the roof of the building.

"I managed to contain the majority of the blast with my wind, but the roof still got hit pretty hard. If we don't act fast, that roof top is going to cave-in," Kazuma explained.

"What?" Ayano said, surprised.

'_Ah, that explains why only the roof is smoking,' _I thought before looking at them, "So what do you suggest we do, Kazuma?"

"Well, it looks to me that the top floor is pretty shaky, also. I don't think it's going to be able to support it," Kazuma concluded after observing the situation, "If the roof falls, the building goes."

"But I only purified him after you gave me that advice!" Ayano exclaimed.

"I'd assume you'd consider the aftermath of your actions, but I guess I was wrong," Kazuma stated.

Ayano frowned before looking at me, "Onee-san! Did you know about this?"

I nodded nervously while massaging my temples, "I would have thought that you would know that this would happen as well. Sorry Ayano."

She sighed before looking down at the building, "Well, what should I do?"

"Burn it away with Enraiha and Kaito Enraiha until it disappears," Kazuma suggested with no alternatives, "Only burn off the top floor though. You guys get rid of the damage there, you save that building, and the lives of everyone in it."

"So once that weight is out of the picture, the building should continue standing," I deducted from what he was saying.

"Exactly," he replied.

"Yeah, but what if I mess up?" Ayano said nervously. I flew over to her and bonked her on the head, "Hey, I'll be with you and Kazuma is here to back us up. Don't worry, we can do this. Together," I assured her.

She nodded, now confident. Enraiha materialized in her hand.

Kazuma looked at me, "Be careful."

I nodded, gripping Kaito Enraiha in my right hand before hovering down and throwing a huge stream of fire at the roof.

Ayano was next to me after Kazuma let go of her, doing the same. Slowly, but surely, the roof started burning away. I de-materialized Kaito Enraiha before concentrating my hand on the roof until the roof was engulfed in black fire and finally disappeared.

I grabbed Ayano's hand before she could fall and Kazuma flew over to hold her in his arms.

When we landed on the ground, the police were there to arrest those men that I beat up. There were also several people around, clapping. Most of them were the hostages that I saved, thanking me for helping them out. They also said that they wouldn't tell anyone what I was which surprised me. I guess Sasuke did indeed take care of everything.

Speaking of Sasuke, I didn't see him around so I assumed that he left already. There was something about him that didn't seem right, but there was nothing that I could do now that he was gone.

Besides that, I talked to the owner of the building who was upset that the roof was gone, but he was still grateful that building was still standing, that I stopped the bad guys and that we got rid of the evil aura which he was informed about by Kirika. He told me that Ayano's father would pay for the damages, but I told him that I would help out as well. When Kirika noticed me, I explained to her what happened and that everything should be all right. She thanked me before leaving.

So… after all that, Ayano, Kazuma and I were walking down the street after I healed us all up, but Ayano and I were still drained from the battles. Lucky for me, I got it off easy with a few scorch marks while Ayano's dress was all ruined now along with scorch marks from when we were taking down the roof.

"I'm so exhausted…" Ayano whined.

"No kidding," I replied, laying my head on Kazuma's shoulder with his arm wrapped around me.

"Why does everything have to be a disaster with me," Ayano muttered.

"Maybe you're the disaster. Ever think of that?" Kazuma replied.

"Uh! Not another word mister!" Ayano yelled at him as we stopped.

"Guys, I got a headache, keep it down," I said, closing my eyes as my head throbbed. I felt a pair of lips touch my forehead, "Sorry, babe."

I heard Ayano sigh, "This was supposed to be a nice evening…" she said before a noise came from her stomach. I opened my eyes and chuckled as I saw her hold her stomach in embarrassment.

"Oh hey, I think we're in luck," Kazuma said, looking in a certain direction. I turned to look where he was looking. It was a ramen stand.

I smiled, "I could go for some of that right now."

"Come on, let's go," Kazuma said, leading me there with Ayano right behind us.

We took our seats and ordered three bowls, one for each of us.

I then realized something and groaned, "Oh great, where's my purse… don't tell me I left it in the building."

"Don't worry, I have it right here, safe and sound," Kazuma told me before pulling it out of his jacket, "Thought you'd be pissed if we left it there."

I grabbed it gently from him before smiling at him, "Thanks, you're a lifesaver," I said before giving him a kiss. We pulled apart and he chuckled, "No problem," he replied before putting his hand on top of mine.

"I feel like I'm going to lose my dinner if you guys keep that up and we didn't even eat yet," Ayano stated, looking away from us.

"Bon appetite," the ramen chef said, placing a bowl for each one of us.

"Now that's what I'm talking about," Kazuma said.

"How did a fine evening of good dining end up with a bowl of noodles at a ramen stand?" Ayano said, looking sadly at her bowl.

"Well, if you don't want to eat it, I will," he responded. I didn't say anything since I had already started to eat.

"I never said anything about not eating!" she yelled, breaking her chopsticks before she started eating her noodles, "It's so good!"

I saw Kazuma grab something from behind his jacket and place it on the table. It was a wine bottle.

"What's that?" Ayano asked, confused.

He grinned, "The wine. I mean, there's no sense in letting a good bottle go to waste."

I sighed, "So that's the sloshing that I was hearing while we were walking…"

"Wow… so this is what you were off doing while I was fighting? Pocketing bottles of wine?" Ayano said, gritting her teeth.

"Hey, can we get some glasses please," Kazuma asked.

"Sure thing," the chef replied, bending down to retrieve them before placing them in front of Kazuma, "Here you go."

"Hey sir, you want a taste? It's Chateau Mangot, 2003," Kazuma asked him.

He politely declined and continued cooking. Kazuma happily poured wine in the glasses. When he was pouring the liquid into my cup, some of it splashed on the side of my face, "Kazuma!" I said, frowning.

"Oops," I heard him say before he suddenly licked my cheek to get the wine off, sending shivers down my body. "Was that really necessary?" I asked with a hint of red on my face, rubbing his saliva off my cheek.

"Eww! Kazuma! That's gross!" Ayano exclaimed in disgust, "I think that should be considered harassment!"

"It's not like I licked you. Besides, it's really expensive wine and I don't want to waste it," Kazuma said before drinking his glass of wine while placing one in front of me. I thanked him and drank while Ayano kept yelling until she decided to just continue eating.

As I ate, I couldn't help but review in my mind the past events that had recently occurred, contemplating about the mysterious Sasuke and knowing that that wasn't the last time we'd see Catherine McDonald. I sighed, wondering what the future had in store for us all.

* * *

**Dark-Flame Alchemist: Chapter ended! So, about Sasuke… he only made a brief appearance now, but he will be seen again… in later chapters. His appearance and maybe some of his personality is the same as the Sasuke from Naruto. I just wanted to inform people this so that they know he is not a crossover character like Ichigo and Rukia.**

**BY THE WAY, I FINISHED THE NEXT CHAPTER WHICH REQUIRES MORE EDITING, BUT NOW I AM WORKING ON THE HOT SPRINGS CHAPTER USING THE EPISODE "FATHER AND SON" AND AM WONDERING IF PEOPLE HAVE IDEAS THAT THEY WOULD LIKE TO HAPPEN! ;) IF I CAN SOMEHOW INCORPORATE IT, I'LL BE SURE TO SHOUT OUT YOUR NAME FOR GIVING THE IDEA!**

**Kazuma: Great… now can we get this over with so I can take a nap.**

**D-F Alchemist: *glares* don't make me have to force you to come here every single update…**

**Karai: *shakes her head***

**Kazuma: *sighs* Uh, don't forget to review, readers! **


	22. The Return of Catherine

**Chapter 21: The Return of Catherine**

**D-F Alchemist: I'm sooo sorry that I didn't update for weeks now. I already had this chapter done, but I wanted to get chapter 22 written first because I usually like to have another chapter pre-written before updating. It was an epic fail since I didn't even start writing it yet. I've only been re-editing this chapter a million times… any more editing and I'll probably change a chunk of it.**

**Ayano: The only reason you didn't write it yet was because you've been watching those Higurashi no Naku Koro ni series! Even the one with the seagulls! THE SEAGULLS! That's a total of 76 episodes! I don't even know HOW OR WHY you even watched them…**

**Karai: Not to mention, you've been playing Assassin's Creed and AC Brotherhood…**

**Kazuma: You're only reasonable excuse is having writer's block… **

**D-F Alchemist: Hey, hey! The Higurashi series and Assassin's Creed series are awesome! I bet those who know about them agree with me!**

**Karai, Kazuma and Ayano: Which is why you completed all of those, but not this…? *shake heads simultaneously***

**D-F Alchemist: *frowns* There's no need to gang up on me… Anyway, I didn't want you readers waiting any longer so I decided to just post this up already. It's just an all right chapter for me and I don't know how I did, but I'm satisfied with it right now after all the re-edits I have done. I hope you all enjoy!**

**Karai, Kazuma and Ayano: Dark-Flame Alchemist does not own Kaze no Stigma.**

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_**Karai's Point of View**_

"Take that!" I screamed before killing a _yoma_. Another one just went past me.

"Ichiru! Another _yoma_ went that way! Let's go! Then there should be one more after that!" I yelled, gripping Kaito Enraiha in my hand as I ran into the tunnel under the bridge that the _yoma_ went to.

"I'm right behind you!" he responded.

Ichiru and I were currently taking on a case at a park where multiple _yoma _were on the run. Kirika took care of getting everyone in the area evacuated an hour ago to allow us to do our job easily. We were already down to our last two after killing five of them so far.

We ended up on the other side of the park after exiting the tunnel. The _yoma_ was circling a fountain.

I ran and jumped, ready to slash at the demon when it noticed me and flew away. I grabbed the edge of the fountain and flipped over it before rolling into the ground. I stood right back up and continued running.

Ichiru was sending fireballs at another _yoma _that he noticed, leaving me with the one that got away. The _yoma _was now charging at me and I would have struck it, but a familiar moving statue slashed it before I could.

I growled and looked over to see the person responsible letting out a laugh that was annoying as always, "Catherine! What are you doing here? I thought you went back to America?"

She stopped laughing and stood next to her spirit beast, smirking at me, "I was simply training so that I can defeat little Miss Kannagi. I couldn't possibly leave yet until I defeat that little brat."

"What's wrong? The battle you had with her wasn't honorable enough for you?" I said with crossed arms.

"It most certainly was not! Plus, I will _not_ lose to someone like her! I just can't stand it! It's just humiliating!" Catherine angrily said.

I rolled my eyes, "Whatever… thanks for helping out, I guess, but, in case you didn't know, that was my target."

"It's not my fault that you're slow. Maybe you're getting weaker or I'm just getting stronger," she insinuated before laughing again.

"I'm not the one who got their butt kicked by two fire magic users on two different occasions," I pointed out.

She stopped laughing immediately. Rage and a hint of embarrassment from her slightly red cheeks were written all over her face as she pointed a finger at me, "I'll show you! Metatron, attack her!" The moving statue charged after me, but I jumped back a few feet before sending two streams of fire in an x-attack, instantly taking down Catherine's spirit beast.

"Who's the one getting strong again? I recall having to take him down with more slashes than that the last time we fought. Maybe you should think up a new strategy," I smirked.

She scowled, "How dare you defeat my beast and mock me!" she stated before holding up her hand and sending down her own set of fireballs at me. It was a different technique from what she would normally do, but I didn't take the time to think about it since I had to evade quickly before I could get hit.

I was able to dodge all of them and slid back to a stop as the last fireball missed me.

"Karai! Watch out!" I heard Ichiru yell.

I turned around just in time to see a _yoma _latch its mouth on my upper left arm. I yelped in pain, waving my arm around to get it off, but it was stuck on hard, "This damn thing won't budge!"

I tried to shake it off me once more, but it just tightened its hold, causing the pain to increase more. Unsuccessful, I decided to attack it instead. I concentrated my free hand as fire surged around it. After charging my attack, I punched the _yoma _really hard. It released its hold on me, flying back a little before Ichiru defeated it with a big fireball.

My arm was bleeding heavily as I placed my right hand on top of the wound and fell onto my knees. I didn't look, knowing that it was going to look grotesque.

Ichiru stopped in front of me immediately and Catherine came by.

"Uh! I didn't know that _yoma _had bite attacks! Hell, I didn't even know they had solid teeth!" I shouted while cringing.

"I guess if there are some that can speak and conjure up swords, then there should also be _yoma_ that bite as well," Ichiru stated, taking out some medical supplies in the bag that he was carrying. I just glared at him.

"Oh my, I'm so glad that didn't happen to me," Catherine said, looking at my wound squeamishly as Ichiru was cleaning it.

"Thanks so much for your concern, I really appreciate it," I sarcastically said before wincing. Ichiru finished up the cleaning before placing his hand on top of the wound to heal it.

"Hey! It's not my fault you weren't paying attention to what you were doing," Catherine remarked.

"Who was the one attacking me in the first place?" I replied back.

"You may have won our fight before, but that didn't give you the right to insult me like that!" she argued.

"I did no such thing. I merely stated the truth," I protested.

She crossed her arms and turned away, "Well, you shouldn't have been provoking me then."

I rolled my eyes before noticing the scrunched up look on Ichiru's face, "What's wrong?"

"Hmm, that's weird… the muscles healed back fine, but the marks are still there and the area around the wound is still a bit bruised up," he said before putting down his hand.

"I'm guessing that nothing will happen even if I heal it myself… so what now?" I asked him.

He got a bandage and wrapped my injury, "There's nothing more I can do. I'll just wrap the wound up for now and we'll just have to wait. Our main healer should know what this is, but unfortunately, she won't be back until the end of the week."

"Great… all right then. Let's get out of here now that we're done before anyone else gets hurt," I said before standing up as Ichiru did the same.

I turned my direction to Catherine, "Hey, I'm assuming you've just been going around town defeating _yoma_… so a word of advice? Try not to make yourself seen out in the open. Not many people around here know about us magic users and you might get in trouble with the authority that deals with supernatural beings," I advised her.

She faced me and placed her hands on her hips, "I can do whatever I please, thank you very much. Good day. Oh… and if you see the Kannagi brat, tell her that I'll be seeing her very soon, ready for our rematch," she said conceitedly before turning around, leaving.

"She seemed nice," Ichiru sarcastically stated as Catherine's figure was fading away.

"Yeah…" I said, frowning, before taking out my phone, "I'm going to call Kirika; get the car ready." He nodded and walked back to where the tunnel was.

After dialing the number, I waited as the phone rang until I heard Kirika's voice:

"_What's up?"_

"Mission accomplished. People can now come back to the area."

"_Good job. I'll get right on it. Thank you for your help as always."_

"It's no problem. What's wrong? You sound busy?"

"_Just some rogue fire magic user disturbing the public since last week. Don't worry; I'm going to ask Kazuma to help out with this."_

"Oh really? You don't say… Well, in that case, Kazuma should be able to help out."

"_Do you know something that I don't?"_

"This magic user wouldn't happen to be blonde and have a spirit beast by her side, would she?"

"_That's the exact description. How did you know?"_

"Well… I saw her not too long ago and warned her not to go and cause trouble which she ignored, but it looks like she already did anyway even if I did tell her. I don't know, maybe Kazuma will be able to knock some sense into her. I'll let you guys figure out where she is."

"_That's great. Thanks for your information; it saves me a whole lot of trouble of finding the person. I'll be sure to let Kazuma know when he gets here."_

"_Let me know what?__" _Even though I couldn't hear the voice clearly, I knew that it was Kazuma who asked the question.

"_Oh Kazuma, you're here already. I was just talking to a partner of mine who got a lead on the perpetrator that I want you to find." _I then heard the phone go on speaker, letting me hear both of them equally. I smirked, knowing Kirika wanted to do a small prank on him.

Kazuma sighed, _"__I knew you were going to ask me to do some job for you…," _he said before sighing again, _"Whatever, can you get off the phone so we can hurry this up?" _

I chuckled lightly from all his sighing before I spoke, "Kazuma, you're so mean. I thought that you would have wanted to talk to me, but I guess not. Some boyfriend you are." I heard him sigh once more and Kirika giggling.

"_Sorry Kazuma, couldn't resist."_

"_Ha ha, very funny, you two. So what did you find out, Karai?"_

I could tell that he wanted to get the mission over with so I stopped teasing him and went back on the subject, "Two words. Catherine McDonald."

"_Are you serious? I thought she went back to America…" _

"My thoughts exactly. Apparently, she's _training_ to defeat Ayano."

"_Awesome... Okay then... I'll see what I can do. Take care."_

"_Bye Karai. Thanks again."_

"No problem at all… and I'll talk to you later Kazuma," I said before hanging up and walking back through the tunnel to meet up with Ichiru.

~…~

For the past few days, I've been fine even though I still had the injury which began to fade. No symptoms have shown the _yoma _bite infecting me, for now. Ichiru said that we still had to wait for the healer to return to make sure. I didn't worry too much about it though.

I talked to Kazuma yesterday night. He informed me that he was going to coach Catherine so that she could have a chance at defeating Ayano. He added that she was paying him double what Ayano's family does and that he didn't want to pass up the opportunity. I just told him to it was fine even though I wasn't happy about it, but warned him that Ayano was going to get _really _pissed off when she finds out. He said he didn't care, knowing fully well that she will indeed be infuriated. He also mentioned that Catherine told him about my incident earlier. He sounded worried, but I told him not to because I wasn't.

I haven't heard from him since then, probably because he was busy training Catherine. It was all right with me since I was busy myself with other matters and missions.

This afternoon, as I was halfway to the Kannagi household, I heard shouting coming from behind me.

"Onee-san!"

I stopped and turned around to see Ayano stomping in my direction with steam coming out of her earsuntil she was in front of me, all angry, "I am so glad I found you! Did you hear what your annoying boyfriend is doing? It's preposterous! Seriously… of all the times he has pissed me off, this just takes the cake!"

The screaming gave me a headache just then, causing me to rub my temples, "Ayano… please don't be loud. Yes, I know that Kazuma is training Catherine and that she is going to challenge you to a duel by the end of the week."

"Sorry… what?" she said in a lower voice, "How could you let him do such a thing?"

I looked at her and shrugged, "I don't see anything wrong with him training her."

She growled before smirking, "No matter. I can fight her in my sleep," she obnoxiously said.

I sighed, "Ayano, remember: Kazuma is training her."

Ayano crossed her arms, "Like I just said, it doesn't matter; I defeated her once, I can do it again."

"Careful with the overconfidence Ayano. It might just be your downfall," I warned her, "Are you sure you don't want me to train you?"

Ayano waved a hand off, "Don't worry Onee-san."

I sighed, "If that's what you want… then I'll respect your wishes."

"Thank you, Karai-nee... and like I said, don't worry. By the way, were you going to my household just now?" she asked me curiously.

"Oh yeah, I was going to talk with Father… but I think I'll do it another night. I'm starting to get a headache," I stated, clutching my head.

"You going to be all right going home?" she asked, concerned.

"Yeah, I should be fine," I assured her after releasing my hand from my head.

"If you're sure… Whoa, what happened to your arm?" she asked, staring at my upper left arm that was bandaged.

"You won't believe this, but a _yoma_ bit me a few days ago," I said, frowning. She was just speechless and looked at me with a "what the hell did you just say… please repeat that" look.

"Yeah, I was very surprised myself when I saw it attach to my arm out of nowhere," I said, like it was nothing.

"Now that's crazy! How come you didn't notice it right away?"

I sighed before explaining, "Catherine was attacking me so I didn't notice the _yoma_ coming right at me while I was dodging and so this is what happened."

Ayano suddenly became furious once again, "You're injured because of Catherine? Now she's going to get the beating of a lifetime!"

I chuckled at her protectiveness, "Thank you for being so concerned, unlike her. I'm positive you can defeat her, but remember what I said."

She nodded, "After all you've done for me, and considering that you're my sister, of course I am concerned! Don't worry Karai, this fight will be for you," she said, pumping her fist in the air.

I smiled, "Good luck. Well, I'll see you when I see you. Night, Ayano," I replied before walking back home.

"Good night, Onee-san!" she exclaimed before running home.

Ichiru checked out my wound once I got home. The marks finally faded away, but there was still a bruise and it hurt when poked so he just re-wrapped it and gave me some medicine for my headache. I was feeling better by the time I finished up a meeting with my Uncle before going to sleep.

~…~

It was the day before Ayano's duel. I massaged my temples from a dizziness that emerged not too long ago, _'Don't worry Karai, you're all right… if anything, the healer will be here tomorrow,' _I thought.

We were at a pastry shop with her friends, Nanase and Yukari, right at the moment because she was pissed off. I don't know how, but she dragged me along after I finished up a quick case in the morning. In my opinion, Ayano should be training instead of stuffing her face with sweets.

I sat next to Nanase in the bench seat with myself near the wall so that I can lean my head while Yukari and Ayano were on the chairs. I took two bites of my cake before picking at it, something that I wouldn't normally do. I guess I didn't have that much of an appetite right now.

"I don't know why, but I am in the worst mood!" Ayano announced before scarfing down another piece of cake and grabbing another one.

I sighed after taking a sip of my tea, "Ayano, slow down. You might puke it all up."

"Umm, don't you have that duel with Catherine tomorrow?" Yukari asked.

"Yeah, should you be pigging out on cake?" Nanase added.

"Whatever. I'm not too worried about the duel at the moment. It's just Catherine in general," she said before taking another cake, "She just pisses me off! Just seeing her makes my blood boil! I mean, come on! Who does she think she is?"

I sighed before standing up, "I'll be right back; just going to the bathroom." Nanase got up so I could get out of the seat before sitting back down.

"Thank you," I told her before heading to the bathroom.

"Hurry back before Ayano eats your cake!" Yukari shouted to me with Ayano telling her to shut up. I just chuckled.

I washed and dried my hands after finishing my business. When I turned myself to head for the door, my head started to throb. I held my head while also holding onto the counter. A surge of pain occurred during each pulse, causing me to wince each time. After like half a minute, it went away and I felt ok again, but I was still dizzy. I panted a bit and shook my head to get my senses together before splashing some water in my face to calm down.

'_What the hell was that?' _ I confusingly thought before shrugging, _'I seem fine already so it was probably nothing.' _After making sure I was all right, I left the bathroom and turned the corner in time to see Ayano run out of the café in a hurry with Yukari and Nanase following after her. Left standing there were Kazuma and… Catherine.

I groaned and muttered to myself, "Why does something always happen whenever I'm not around…" before walking up to them. Kazuma was saying something to Catherine which she responded with an obnoxious reply before she started blushing.

Once I got near them, I heard her say, "My point is, no matter what happens, nothing is going to stop me from defeating her tomorrow."

I scoffed, "Nobody except Ayano herself." They both turned and noticed me as I stood in front of them with crossed arms.

"I'd like to see her try," she replied with her head up high.

"Oh, she will," I told her before turning to Kazuma, "So what are you doing here anyway?"

He shrugged and nudged his head toward Catherine, "She dragged me here to celebrate the end of her training. I'm guessing Ayano dragged you here too for some reason?"

I nodded before closing my eyes and massaging my temples again from the dizziness, "Yup."

A hand place itself on my left shoulder while the other held my chin, bringing my head up. I put my hand down and opened my eyes to see Kazuma looking at me worried, "You ok babe? You don't look so well right now."

I nodded and gave a small smile at him, "I'm all right… just a little dizzy. I should go after Ayano though in case she gets herself in trouble after you guys somehow pissed her off."

Catherine flipped her hair, "It's not my fault that little Miss Kannagi thinks that she could beat me when it's obvious that I'll be the winner."

I glared at her, "Hey Catherine, hold your tongue. You haven't won the duel yet."

"Ladies, calm down," Kazuma stated before looking at Catherine, "Why don't you go get us a table while I talk to Karai?"

"Fine," she complied before smirking at me, "This will probably be your last moment with him anyway," she said before turning around and leaving.

I raised an eyebrow, "What's she talking about? Are you planning on breaking up with me to be with her or something?"

Kazuma shook his head, "No, no… it's nothing like that. She just decided to change the deal of the duel a little. If she wins, she'll not only take Enraiha, but me as well."

I kept my eyebrow up, "And you allowed her to?"

He shrugged, "Hey, she offered lots of money. Besides, I think she was just saying that to get Ayano all riled up which it did." _'Not from how I saw her expression just now…' _I thought suspiciously before crossing my arms and rolling my eyes, "Whatever. It's your choice if you want to leave. I really should be going now."

Kazuma leaned down and kissed me before pulling away, "Don't be like that… even if I have to America with her, it wouldn't be anytime soon and I wouldn't break up with you for that reason. I love you."

I smiled and hugged him, "I love you too. I'll see you tomorrow then?"

We released and he nodded, "I'll see you tomorrow. Take care and don't strain yourself," he said before turning around to go look for Catherine.

After he left, I grabbed my purse from the table and paid for the bill since Ayano and her friends left before leaving the café quickly. Hopefully I could still catch up to Ayano in time.

After ten minutes of running around with the sun starting to set, I found her slowly walking along a path near the water with her friends trailing behind.

"Ayano!" I yelled out to get her attention. They all stopped with only Yukari and Nanase turning around to look at me. Ayano was still facing forward.

I nodded my head to Yukari and Nanase in gratitude before stopping behind Ayano a few feet, panting to catch my breath, "You all right?"

She faced me, not with an upset look, but one with determination, "Oh I am definitely fine, Onee-san. Just you wait. I'll beat Catherine tomorrow for your sake and make sure that Kazuma doesn't go to America! I _promise_ you! Not only will he stay here with you, but I will make sure to ruin his life for training that evil, conniving witch!" she yelled before screaming at the setting sun, "You're going to pay for this Kazuma!"

I sweat dropped, _'Wow, she really is into this… At least she is acting like herself.' _

She then turned to me with a nervous look, "B-but I want to ask you a favor though…"

I smiled and put a hand up to stop her, "You don't need to say anything. I'll train you."

Her eyes brightened with excitement before she quickly ran and hugged me, "Thank you…"

"Yeah, but I'm not going easy on you since your match is tomorrow," I told her sternly as we released each other. She nodded her head excitedly, "I will!"

"That's great Ayano, but we should really get going since it's late," Yukari stated as she and Nanase went closer to us.

"Yeah, we'll just see you tomorrow when your duel starts. Don't slack off while training," Nanase added.

"Ok guys, wish me luck," Ayano said as her friends departed, leaving us alone.

"Ayano, let's go," I replied before heading to the grassy area.

"So Nee-san? How are you going to train me anyway?" Ayano asked once she got to my side.

"Considering that we have a short amount of time since you declined my offer days ago… I'll just teach you a technique that will come in handy," I explained to her when we got to a certain spot with plenty of space to train.

"Really? Which one is it?" she asked curiously with excitement. I raised an eyebrow as a smirk formed in my face, "What do you think?"

Confused, she looked at me weirdly. After giving it much thought for a minute, her mouth dropped, coming into realization, "No way…"

I grinned, "Yes way."

~…~

It was the day of the duel. The sun was shining and the trees swayed from the movement of the wind as a battle between fire magic users was about to commence.

Ayano, her friends and I had just entered the area where the duel was to be held. It was in an isolated grassy area surrounded by trees which had a small stadium area for an audience to sit at and a circle path that went into four directions.

Ichiru said that the healer would arrive in the afternoon and suggested that I should wait at home, but I didn't want to miss the battle that I helped Ayano train for just last night.

"Did you get enough sleep last night Ayano? You did come home late after all," I asked her.

"I did and I'm all pumped up. I am _so_ going to defeat Catherine now, especially with the help of my new technique," she stated with a grin.

"Remember to use it when needed. After all, you just got lucky that you were able to get the gist of it down in a matter of hours," I warned her.

Ayano grinned at me with a thumb up, "I'm grateful for your help, Onee-san. Now let me do my part." I nodded and smiled, "Good luck." When Ayano looked straight head once more, my vision started to get blurry all of a sudden, but I shook my head and it went away. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to come… but I'm here already and I am definitely not going to miss this fight now.

We saw Kazuma and Catherine waiting for us. Ayano's friends and I stopped at a certain distance while Ayano continued forward to the battlefield until she was several feet away from Catherine. Kazuma was on top of the stadium area, leaning his back on a pillar.

"Take her down, Ayano!" Nanase shouted.

"You can do it!" Yukari exclaimed.

"Ok, are you two ready?" Kazuma shouted from where he was.

"_Of course_ I'm ready," Catherine remarked with her usual arrogant attitude.

"Not as ready as I am!" Ayano said as she and Catherine stared at each other, waiting for the signal to start. The atmosphere became tense as we all awaited the duel.

"Begin!" Kazuma shouted.

"Enraiha! Come forth!" Ayano yelled, summoning her sword and gripping it in both hands.

"I summon you, my spirit guardian, Metatron!" Catherine was surrounded by her fire and held her hand up in the air as Metatron appeared.

"You really going to use that thing again, even after what happened the last time?" Ayano said.

"And why not?" Catherine responded.

"Then let's go!" Ayano screamed as she charged for Metatron, fire surrounding her sword, "Kannagi flame!" she yelled as she swung her attack at the spiritual beast which de-formed into its original shape just like last time until it disappeared.

"She did it!" Nanase said.

"You're awesome, Ayano!" Yukari added.

"The flame of purification… no real surprise there."

We all turned to see Kazuma standing in between Yukari and I, causing me to get startled since I was too concentrated on the battle to see him, "You scared me… when did you get here?"

He chuckled, "Just now… I would have thought you'd be able to sense me." I rolled my eyes and kept watch on the battle.

"Is that all you got? I hope you didn't spend too much money on Kazuma's training," Ayano said.

It looked like Catherine had something up on her sleeve with that look she was giving Ayano, causing Ayano herself to get nervous, but she didn't give up and charged for a direct attack on Catherine this time, "You lose!"

Suddenly, several different-type looking spirits that I've never seen before were shooting down at her. At the last minute, Ayano turned around and noticed them, but it was too late. One of them hit her and smoke surrounded her.

"Oh no." "Ayano." Her friends were saying, worried about Ayano. When the smoke cleared, she was down on one knee, recovering from the impact.

Ayano looked up and saw the fireballs above, surrounding her in a circle, "What are those things?"

"They're called wisps," Catherine explained.

"What? So, are they supposed to be your new spirit beasts or something? They don't look quite as impressive as your other one."

"I'm not the person you should be telling that too. They might look measly, but the wisps are part of Kazuma's strategy to defeat you," Catherine stated. This caused Ayano to flinch.

"Let's start the real battle now, shall we?" Catherine replied, holding her hand up in the air once more. The wisps shot attacks at Ayano in all directions.

She jumped and ungracefully dodged each of the attacks. Yet again, she gets hit by another wisp, causing her to fall onto the ground.

"No, she's losing…" Nanase dejectedly said.

"Ayano! You have to counterattack!" Yukari encouraged her.

"Don't think so… the only way she knows how to fight is to take out her opponent in one blow. She's completely clueless dealing with multiple targets. You might even say it's her Achilles's heel," Kazuma stated.

"Did you tell Catherine that? Did you set up Ayano?" Yukari questioned him.

"Of course I did. I'm her coach," Kazuma answered her.

"That's terrible!" Yukari said.

"You jerk!" Nanase added.

"Well, Ayano might end up getting her ass kicked, but at least she'll learn something from it," Kazuma said, "She might even realize what her weakness is."

I let out a light chuckle, causing them to stare at me. Kazuma himself was confused.

"Karai! How could you laugh at a time like this?" Yukari scolded me.

"Ayano may be losing it right now, but she'll be fine once she snaps out of it. Remember, I did train her last night," I assured them. Yukari and Nanase remembered that certain fact and became optimistic once more as they turned to continue cheering for Ayano.

"So you trained her after all…" Kazuma said, smirking at me, "Although… I don't see what she could accomplish over one night."

I smirked right back, "You might be surprised once you see…" He chuckled and continued to watch the battle.

Catherine laughed as Ayano hit the attacks whenever they went near her, but wasn't able to dodge all of them. She fell onto her stomach and couldn't move.

"Ayano!" "Is she all right?"

"Come on Ayano! Concentrate!" I shouted at her.

"This looks to be the end of our battle. So feel free to admit defeat anytime," Catherine told her opponent.

"Who said that this was over?" Ayano muttered from her position, not intending to give up that easily.

"You are stubborn, aren't you? Well, that makes my victory that much enjoyable," Catherine said before continuing to get even more cocky, saying how wonderful it will be when Kazuma goes to America with her. Even though she was pissing me off by saying that, I still grinned, knowing that her arrogance would provoke Ayano to get her act together, _'Careful with what you say Catherine…'_

Kazuma probably had the same thoughts as me since he had a nervous look on his face because of Ayano's wrath.

Ayano looked like she was back to herself and was determined to win once again, "It's not over yet. I won't lose to you!"

Catherine growled, "Are you too stupid to realize when to quit? I'm obviously the winner."

"She's ok," Yukari said in relief.

"Thought she would be," Kazuma added, "It's about time she started acting like herself."

A wisp shot at her once again. Ayano smirked and surprised everyone by doing something that no one has seen her do before: bursts of flames shot out of her shoes, causing her to jump high and escape the attack that hit the spot she was on previously before she went back down and did short hovers to dodge the other attacks.

"What the? How are you able to do that?" Catherine asked with a shocked look.

Kazuma chuckled as he turned to look at me, "You were able to teach her that technique of yours?"

"She's only at a beginner level where she can only do very short strides. It's not that much, but I thought it might help during the battle. She actually learned it pretty quickly for an impulsive person though," I explained to him, "I guess that's how determined she was to win. Although, if she wants to be able to hover continuously like I do, she's going to need more stamina and control."

"Wow, that's impressive," he said in awe before wrapping his arm around my shoulders and bringing me close to him, "Good job," he complimented me as he kissed my forehead.

"Thanks," I replied, smiling, before I laid my head on his shoulder. We both continued to watch the duel.

It looked like Ayano figured out what she had to do after analyzing the battle while dodging because she slashed at all the wisps which were now attached to Enraiha. She then jumped in front of Catherine and pointed her sword at her.

Catherine was shocked as Ayano grinned and swung her weapon directly at her opponent, sending her flying back, falling on the ground and becoming swirly-eyed. She was defeated. Nanase and Yukari cheered at their friend's victory.

Before I could praise Ayano, a sudden pain surged in my head just like the day before, causing me to become weak in the knees. I would have collapsed and hit the ground if Kazuma wasn't holding me. I was lucky. My world started spinning as I was slowly falling into darkness.

"Karai! Stay with me!" I heard Kazuma say, but I couldn't see him well since my vision became blurry once again. Soon, I blacked out.

~…~

"She should be fine now. I was able to remove the poison before it took its full effect. I'm sorry that I wasn't here earlier enough to prevent this. Of all the times I had to leave town."

"We're just lucky that she's ok already. You can go take care of your other tasks. Thank you."

Those were the voices I heard when I became conscious again even though my eyes were still closed shut. It sounded like the first voice was the main healer while the second one was Ichiru. Next, I heard more voices which were really loud.

"This is all your fault for making her lose her guard that day!"

"Like I told Karai, it's her own fault for provoking me in the first place! Geez! Put the blame on me, why don't you!"

"That's because it is your fault!"

"Ayano, Catherine… you'll wake her up if you aren't quiet."

"Too late," I replied, opening my eyes to find myself in my bed with people in my room. Ayano and surprisingly, Catherine, were in the side, arguing. Ichiru was leaning at the doorway and Kazuma was sitting on a chair by my bed, holding my hand which I just noticed right now. I didn't see Ayano's friends around so I assumed they just went home since they weren't here.

Kazuma smiled at me, "I'm glad you're awake."

I smiled before becoming confused, "So what's this about some poison?"

Ichiru walked up to my bed, "It looks like that _yoma_'s saliva contained venom and went into your bloodstream when it bit you. That's why I wasn't able to fully heal the wound. Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with extracting any kind of poison from somebody, so we would have had to wait anyway for the healer to return."

I sighed, "Oh joy. How could I have not seen that coming…? I'll be sure to thank her later then."

Ichiru chuckled, "Anyway, you may have looked symptomless for most of the week, but the poison was actually just spreading around. Those symptoms that you slowly got were part of the process. Unfortunately, a _yoma _biting someone is actually rare, which is why hardly anybody knows about it. It's a really good thing that the healer was aware of this poison and came back just in time to remove it because you would have fallen gravely ill if you had it in you for a week more."

"Why does something like this always happen to me…?" I muttered to myself before turning towards Ayano and Catherine to change the subject, "So Ayano won the duel?"

Ayano grinned, "Of course I did. I couldn't let her get the best of me! Not to mention, get vengeance for this incident which is her fault!"

Catherine snorted, "You just got lucky. I could have won, you know…"

"Ha, but you didn't!" Ayano said with her grin becoming bigger. Catherine growled before she had an apologetic look on her face as she faced at me, "I'm sorry. You wouldn't be in this position if it weren't for me."

I was surprised that she apologized in the first place. Even Ayano and Kazuma were amazed that she did.

I guess Catherine must have felt really guilty seeing how I could have died because of what happened. Not to mention, it probably took a lot of pride for her to apologize.

I just smiled and waved off a hand, "Don't worry about it. It's not like you had intended for it to happen. I'm just as much to blame anyway since I provoked you."

Catherine looked relieved and smiled sadly, "Thank you. It's no wonder that Kazuma has someone like you. You're so nice. He's a really lucky guy." The way she was looking and what she had just said confirmed my suspicion: she had fallen for Kazuma.

Although, it seems she has realized that he will never see her in the same way that he does with me and has accepted that. I felt sorry for her, but, yet again, I was also grateful that she wasn't going to take further action to try to take him as her own. She may be arrogant most of the time, but she does know when to step back.

I gave a small smile, "We may have been enemies before, but how about we become friends and start anew?"

Catherine looked shocked, but she nodded happily, "I would like that very much." She then grinned and gave a small laugh, "I'm so glad that I came to this country. It's not as bad as I had thought."

"Now that you've seen our wonderful country, how about you hit it back to the states where you belong?" Ayano muttered.

A stress mark appeared on Catherine's head, "What was that you said…? I do believe I have every right to stay as long as I want, thank you very much." Soon, Ayano and Catherine were back to bickering. I just shook my head.

"All right, you two. Let's let Karai rest some more to get her strength back," Ichiru said, dragging them out of the room.

Kazuma, who stayed behind and had remained quiet most of the time, finally spoke, "You gave us quite a scare, especially me," he replied in relief, squeezing my hand.

I let out a nervous laugh as I squeezed back, "I'm sorry… I can't promise that it won't happen again though."

"I know, but please try not to collapse like that again," he stated with concern. I just nodded in agreement, "I'll try."

Kazuma then leaned down and kissed my forehead before he released my hand and stood up, "I'll stop by later on."

"All right," I replied as he smiled at me before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

I sighed as I lied back down, staring at the ceiling _'I really got to watch over myself better after I've been from one accident to another._ _I might not get so lucky the next few times…'_ I thought before closing my eyes and going back to sleep.

* * *

**D-F Alchemist: There you go! I hope you liked it! Now that college starts again, I'm going to probably have an even harder time writing so bear with me! I'll try to write chapter 22 sometime this week or next week (or this month) and hopefully some pre-written chapters! **

**Thanks to those who reviewed and favorited the story! You guys are awesome! Also, thank you to those who gave suggestions! I think I'll be able to use them so I'll give credit at the beginning of the chapter if I do use them!**

**By the way, if anyone has awesome drawing abilities, (unlike me T.T) I give permission to have Karai drawn in how you picture her as long as you give me the credit and tell me about it! ;) Hope to see some lovely drawings!**


	23. Ayano causing Disaster

**Chapter 22: Ayano Causing Disaster**

**Hey everyone! Sorry for the _really_ _really_ long wait! Still working on the hot springs chapter, but while you're still waiting, I had an idea for another chapter and decided to write it before the hot springs one. I know the holiday has passed already, but I used the mischievous day that comes once a year known as April Fools! ;) **

**I only used Third POV for this chapter, btw! Also, I'm probably going to edit this chapter more even though I already uploaded so tell me if you see any errors that I've missed.**

**Enjoy! **

**Disclaimer: Dark-Flame Alchemist doesn't own Kaze no Stigma.**

* * *

_**Everyone's Point of View**_

Kazuma was lying down on his couch with his arms behind his head, just looking up at the ceiling with an uninterested look before he sighed, "Man I'm bored today. There's nothing to do and I've been napping all day. Of all the times, why did Karai pick today when I wanted to take her out?"

Jugo hadn't called him for any missions since his previous one two days ago and neither has Kirika. Sure, he could just go flying around the city, but he wasn't in the mood.

All of a sudden, he got up from the couch and stretched his arms, deciding that he was just going to go to the Kannagi house and see if Jugo had any missions anyway. If not, maybe he'll take Ren out somewhere… as well as Ayano if he had too. That's how bored he was.

After getting changed out of his sleepwear and into his usual attire, he put his shoes on and left his place out of his personal exit – the window – and flew off.

Once he got to the Kannagi house, he landed on the grounds inside the property and walked casually along the halls, ignoring the stares of the servants who were not happy with his grand entrance.

As he continued walking with his hands in his pocket and eyes closed, he heard shouting coming from one of the rooms.

"Calm down Nee-san, there's no need to be mad right now."

"Grr, I am so pissed off right now at Karai that I'm about to explode! You know what, scratch that! I'm furious at Kazuma!"

He groaned from recognizing Ayano's whining voice as he opened his eyes and stepped in front of the door. He slid it open, revealing himself to Ayano and Ren who were sitting next to each other at a table.

"Oh, hello Onii-san! We didn't know you were stopping by today," Ren stated with a cheerful smile at seeing his brother.

Ayano, on the other hand, glared at Kazuma, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Hey there Ren and it's nice to see you too, Ayano," said person greeted as he closed the door and sat himself across the two, "So what's this about you being mad at me and Karai? I don't recall doing anything lately besides dating your sister which, may I remind you, was all thanks to you."

The hot-headed teenager opened her mouth, ready to shout something before closing it shut. She avoided his eyes and huffed with crossed arms, "One, you didn't answer my question! Two, that's none of your concern! And three, don't remind me!"

He chuckled while putting his hand behinds his back, "Suit yourself then."

"Nii-san, why **are **you here?" Ren asked curiously, "Not that I'm complaining. I like it when you visit spontaneously."

He exhaled a deep breath, "I was bored all day which I'm not usually. I came here to see if Jugo would have any available job until I came across the two of you. Seriously Ayano, everyone in the estate probably heard you."

"Shut up…" she muttered.

Kazuma shook his head at Ayano before closing his eyes, "I was actually planning on taking Karai out on a date later, but she said she was busy."

"Really?" Ren said as best he could without sounding suspicious. He was glad that his brother couldn't see his nervousness at the moment, "I thought she had a day off?"

"Me too… I thought it was weird and couldn't recall today being anything special besides it being April already, but I figured it was an emergency mission," he concluded.

"Yeah, that must be it," Ren assured him.

Neither of them noticed that Ayano had a mischievous look in her eye and a grin on her face, _'Oh my god, I can't believe I forgot what day it was today! Hehe, since Kazuma and Karai don't know, I'm going to punish them! This is going to be so great! It's time to hatch the plan!' _

Immediately she jolted up, slamming the palms of her hands on top of the table which stunned Kazuma and Ren. They both stared at her like she was crazy.

Next, she pointed a finger straight at Kazuma, "I can't keep it in any longer! This is all your fault for not keeping your pants on!"

"Huh? What are you talking about Ayano?" Ren asked her with a baffled look.

Kazuma raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, what **are **you talking about? I would also appreciate it if you could stop pointing at me."

"You know what you did, you pervert!" Ayano shouted, "I should have said something the moment your lazy ass walked in, but I promised to keep my mouth shut!"

"Is there a need to insult me like that? Enlighten me, please."

She scowled, "Karai could possibly be pregnant because of you, that's what! She didn't have to tell me who the father was because I already knew!" Ayano then had fake tears in her eyes, covering her face, "Oh my poor sister! That's why she's busy today! She had to go to the hospital to check if it was true!" Ren's jaw dropped.

Kazuma stared at her with a blank look, "That's not possible. Karai and I didn't even have sex yet." Ren's face turned red at the mention of the word.

Ayano blushed before she composed herself and glared at Kazuma again, "I, and especially Ren, didn't need to know that, thank you very much."

"You were implying that Karai and I conceived a child in the first place which I'm telling you is not likely."

"Well, maybe you guys got drunk one day and can't remember the event if what you're saying is true because, you know what, it **has** to be you unless you're assuming something?"

Kazuma wasn't buying it before, but he took the fact into consideration since he did get out of it sometimes with Karai around although there was never a mention of them doing anything extreme. If they really didn't do anything, though, then he might have to assume the worst.

Ren was puzzled for a second before realizing that he knew where Ayano was going with her actions, "Nee-san, that's not- OUCH!" he held his foot in pain from getting it stomped on from Ayano, earning him a funny look from his older brother.

Ren gave a nervous laugh, "Sorry about that… I stubbed my toe." He then glared at the successor of the Kannagi clan who kept her gaze at her victim, smirking on the inside, _'This is totally awesome! He's falling for it! I didn't think it would actually work, but seeing that Karai is important to him, he's so gullible!_'

Kazuma suddenly stood up and pushed his chair in the table before putting his hands in his pocket, hiding his clenched fists, "I think I'm just going to go home." _'And think about what I just learned…' _ He turned around and walked towards the door, sliding it open to leave, "See ya."

"You better go home and stay there! By the way, Karai is supposed to call you so don't bother visiting her later if you're planning on it!" Ayano mentioned to him. She and Ren managed to hear a "Whatever" from him before the wind magic user flew out of there, disappearing in a flash.

Ayano had a huge smirk on her face, satisfied with what she did.

Ren frowned her behavior though, "Nee-chan, that wasn't very nice. You know Karai-nee is trying to get reservations for that restaurant later and now onii-san is upset which will make her upset."

She just waved a hand off in front of him, "Ren, it's just a joke! That's the beauty of April Fool's Day! I'm going to call her now!"

Ayano ran off to get her cell phone in her room with Ren right behind her. Just as she turned a corner into another hallway, she bumped into somebody and fell onto her butt.

Rubbing her aching buttocks, she looked up and saw her father in front of her with Genma next to him, "Father! Cousin Genma!"

"Hello Ayano, fancy meeting you here," Jugo greeted while Genma nodded at her in respect.

"Hello Father!" Ren exclaimed, causing the man to look at his youngest son, "Ren."

"So Ayano, is there a reason why you aren't paying attention to where you're going right now?" her father asked her curiously.

She nervously rubbed the back of her neck, "Umm it's nothing really."

"Yup, nothing at all!" Ren tried to back her up.

Genma snorted with arms crossed, "It doesn't look like nothing to me."

"Ayano, just tell us what you two are up to," the head of the Kannagi family insisted.

She finally gave in and explained really fast, "We're-pranking-Kazuma-and-Onee-san-into-thinking-that-they-are-cheating-on-one-another-by-making-Kazuma-think-that-Onee-san-is-pregnant-and-Onee-san-into-thinking-that-Kazuma-was-with-another-woman." Luckily for her, the two grown men were able to get what she was saying, but looked at her, wondering why she would do such a thing.

"Did I mention that it's April Fools today?" she informed them to defend her actions.

Ren formed an x with his arms, "I have nothing to do with this! I think the whole thing is wrong!" Both of the fathers didn't hear him because they were lost in thought.

'_Hmm… Karai and Kazuma could probably end up getting the __**deed **__done if this ploy is successful… not to mention, the thought of having a grandchild isn't such a bad idea…' _Jugo thought with a glimmer in his eye.

'_My idiot son getting to suffer… can't say I don't agree with it…' _Genma thought with a satisfying look.

After thinking about how splendid the scam was, they came back to reality.

Jugo smiled at his daughter, "Good job, Ayano, as you were then," he praised her before continuing on.

Genma smirked, "Let us know how the prank goes. See you later son." He then followed after Ayano's father, leaving the two teenagers by themselves.

Ren's eyes blinked a few times, "What just happened?"

"Haha, who cares? Looks like we got the seal of approval! Come Ren!" Ayano laughed before pushing herself up and continuing to run towards her room.

Ren shook his head, "I can't believe it… even my own father permitted this. Why am I part of this family again?" he questioned himself before following after her.

~…~

"So what's the verdict on the reservations, Ichiru?" Karai asked her cousin on the phone as she left the hospital.

"_I'm really sorry, Rai. There were no available ones in that restaurant you wanted for today. It's packed."_

She sighed in disappointment, "There's no need to apologize. I shouldn't have thought this up at the last minute. I'll probably just hang out at Kazuma's tonight."

"_That's fine then. It's your day off anyway. By the way, why is it that you needed to go to the hospital when we have our own infirmary at the estate?"_

Karai turned a corner on the sidewalk, watching where she was going while still talking, "I actually checked first with the infirmary back at home, but I wanted to make sure of the results so I also went to the hospital. Nothing's wrong with that, you know.

"_You're right. I was just wondering. Were you okay with the results?"_

"I'm perfectly fine. I was just doubtful of something. Anyways, I should go and tell Kazuma I'm going to his place. Bye Ichiru. Thanks for the help."

"_Bye Karai."_

She hanged up and dialed Kazuma's number before placing the phone to her ear. The phone rang a few times before she heard a click.

"_Hey, what's up?"_

Karai noticed that he didn't sound happy just like she was, "I was just going to ask if I can come over later."

"_Sure, I'm not doing anything anyway."_

"Is there something wrong Kazuma? You don't sound like yourself," she asked in concern.

"_I could say the same for you."_

"Well, I asked you first," she shot back.

"_I'm just tired from taking a nap all day, that's all. Now, how about you?"_

"Just received some bad news, but I'll make up for it somehow," Karai answered him before she suddenly got an idea, _'Ooo! I can make dinner at his place instead since I put food there the last time I stopped by.'_

"_Karai, you still there?"_

She snapped out of her thoughts, "Yeah, yeah! Sorry, I was thinking about something. What was it you were saying?"

"_I was asking what you did today that made you busy…"_

"Oh, I had some errands to do… confirm an upcoming mission with a client, actually do some paperwork and… stop by the hospital."

"_T-the hospital?"_

"Yeah," she said before hearing a beeping noise, "Kazuma, I'll just see you later because I got another call on the other line."

"_All right then, I'll see you later."_

His line went off, making Karai frown since he would normally say 'I love you' but she figured that it was because of his tiredness and didn't mind. She pressed a button and placed the phone back on her ear, "Hello?"

"_Hi Nee-san!"_

"Ayano, what's up?"

"_Nothing! I just wanted to see how you were doing with those reservations." _

Karai noticed that she sounded a little nervous, but didn't question it, "Not that good. I wasn't able to get them which sucks."

"_Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I guess it's better that way, though."_

She raised an eyebrow, "Why is that? What aren't you telling me, Ayano?"

"_I just want you to know that you can talk to me about anything, okay?"_

"Ayano, you're scaring me, just tell me what's going on."

"_I-I think that Kazuma is cheating on you. I heard that he was with Catherine."_

Karai stopped walking and blinked a few times before she started to laugh.

"_Umm Rai-nee?"_

She had to wipe a tear away from her eye, "That's a good one Ayano. I almost believed you there for a second."

"_I'm not kidding! It's true!"_

Karai rolled her eyes as she continued walking towards the train station to go back home, "Ayano, he doesn't like Catherine that way."

"_Did you call him yet?"_

"Yeah, I did actually."

"_And did he not sound like himself?"_

She suddenly became all serious, remembering how he was acting in the phone, "Now that you mention it, he didn't…"

"_See! Something is up with him and you need to do something about it!"_

"Fine Ayano, when I go see him, I'll confront him about the possibility. Thank you for telling me," she gave in.

"_You're welcome, Nee-san. I hope what I've said isn't true."_

Karai's eyes squinted as she was in thought, "Me too, Ayano. I've got to go. Bye."

"_Bye."_

She hung up and put her phone back in her pocket before entering the train. She took a seat and watched the outside view, not knowing what to think at the moment.

~…~

Ayano snickered once she got off the phone. Ren was by her side, not looking happy, "Nee-san… you know they're going to kill you after they find out what you've done… that is, if they don't kill each other first."

"I know Ren, I know!" she told him.

"I'm just saying that because I know you would be terribly pissed off if anybody did something like this to you," he pointed out to her, but apparently she wasn't listening to him because she was scavenging through her phone for something.

"Ayano-nee-san…"

"Ren, its okay because, once they find out it's just a joke, they can't be super mad at me! Just moderate or hopefully mild," she explained to him with confidence before dialing another number.

"You didn't even hear what I said before…" Ren sighed disappointedly, "What are you doing now, anyway?"

"I'm calling Catherine! Now sshh!" Ayano hushed him, putting the phone to her ear as it rung.

"_Hello? Who's disturbing me when I'm training? It better not be the Kannagi brat or else I'll gladly schedule another match for right now!"_

She snorted, "Well, you're out of luck because it is Ayano Kannagi."

"_Oh great, what do you want? If it's not important, I **will **schedule a match!"_

"I'm going to need a favor that you can't refuse…" Ayano grinned.

~…~

Knock. Knock.

"I'm coming," Kazuma exclaimed, leaving his room to get the door. He was wearing his pajama pants and a sleeveless muscle shirt on, not bothering to change since he figured it was just Karai.

When he opened the door, to his surprise, it was Catherine in his presence.

She turned red from his attire, but shook her head and smiled, "Hello Kazuma, just dropping by."

He raised an eyebrow, "Hello to you Catherine; to what do I owe this honor?"

The blonde American waved a couple of envelopes in the air, "I've got your paycheck that I didn't give you yet for coaching me." She then held them in front of him, "Here you go."

He took the envelopes from her hand before crossing his arms, "Thanks, is that all you needed?"

It was Catherine's turn to raise her eyebrow in concern, seeing his odd behavior, "Something the matter, Kazuma?"

Kazuma sighed before scratching his head, "It's just Karai… wait, why am I even telling you this?"

She chuckled before her face softened, "Don't worry, whatever it is, I'm sure it will work out. You both love each other very much and I can see that."

A small smile formed on his face from what Catherine said before he unexpectedly kissed her on the cheek which made her turn redder, "What was that for?"

"Just to say thank you; you're all right when you don't have that arrogant attitude of yours," he complimented her.

Catherin cleared her throat, "You're welcome and thanks for the compliment. I better get going, so goodbye." She turned around and headed for the elevator.

Kazuma chuckled before he realized something, "Catherine, why did you give me two envelopes? There's one that says paycheck and another that says letter."

After stepping into the elevator and turning around to face him, she yelled, "Open the letter after you have your talk with Karai!" Before he could ask why, the doors already shut.

He frowned at the mystery envelope before setting both of them on his counter. He walked over and sat on his couch afterwards to watch television as he waited for his girlfriend to arrive, not knowing how the night would turn out.

~…~

In the elevator, Catherine had a hand on her blushed cheek. She shook her head before taking out her phone and dialing a number. She waited as the phone rang.

"_Hey Catherine! How'd it go?"_

"I did my part just as you asked, Ayano."

"_Great! Now everything is set in motion!"_

"Why are you even meddling into their affairs anyway? I probably would have approved if you did this before we had that rematch, but I'm not so sure about now." The elevator doors opened and she stepped out, heading for the door.

"_Catherine, this is just an April Fool's joke! You should be glad that I didn't do one on you!"_

"Hmmph, I guess I should consider myself lucky. I was only helping you out anyway because you threatened to brag to everyone how we tied during our last battle."

"_You** should** be grateful and, fyi, I beat your ass during that battle."_

"Same difference! Anyway, I should go now. I have to make plans on going back home soon."

"_Make sure to not come back then, bye!" _she hung up before Catherine could remark back.

Catherine growled as she closed her phone, muttering, "Why that little…" She then took a deep breath before her cheeks turned red again when she finally left Kazuma's building to head back to the place she was staying at.

What she didn't know was that the young head of the Uchiha family watched her leave from her position at the corner of the building, looking really suspicious.

~…~

Fifteen minutes later after Catherine left, Kazuma heard another knock on the door and went to get it. He turned the knob and opened the door, revealing a not so happy Karai, "Hello Yagami."

"Hey Rai," Kazuma greeted, leaning forward to give her a kiss, but she moved her head so that he got her cheek instead. She then let herself in.

He sighed as he closed the door behind him, knowing that Karai was upset when she would start calling people by their last names. It wasn't like he wasn't feeling troubled himself either, though.

He turned around and watched her stop a few feet from him, looking around the area like she was searching for something.

"Do you want something to drink?" he asked her, heading for the sink.

"Water's fine for now, if you please."

Kazuma filled up a glass of water and placed it on the center counter across the envelopes, "Here you go."

She turned around and went in front of the counter, grabbing her glass and taking a sip before staring at him with her arms crossed, "Did Catherine stop by here?"

Kazuma nodded as he leaned his back on the wall counter where the sink was, "She needed to give me my paycheck for training her." He gestured his head towards the envelopes to prove his point

"Are you sure that's all you did?" Karai inquired after turning her eyes to the spot, "She seemed a bit flushed when I saw her leaving the building."

"I just pecked her cheek, that's all. You know how red she easily gets from being embarrassed," he told her, "It's the same with Ayano."

"That's… sort of true," she somewhat agreed, but remained suspicious.

"How about you? What were you doing in the hospital?" he asked out of the blue.

Karai raised her eyebrow at the question, "I had to check something, nothing that you need to get concerned over though."

"Oh _really_?" he asked, stressing the 'really.'

She rolled her eyes, "Yes, _really_."

"Let me ask you something else – did we ever, you know, **do **something that I can't remember?"

She was stumped at what he was asking, "No, not that I know of at least."

Kazuma ran his hand through his hair before his head slumped down, "So I really should assume the worst then."

"Assume what?"

He stared right at her, "You cheated on me, didn't you?"

Karai's mouth slightly dropped before she started to yell, "I'm the one cheating? I _beg_ to differ! Catherine was here so you were the cheating one!" She then drank some of her water to try to calm herself down.

Kazuma pushed himself off the counter he was leaning on. He walked around the middle one blocking his way to Karai until they were a foot apart, "I told you nothing happened. Besides, you're the one who's probably pregnant."

At his last statement, Karai spat out the water she was swallowing onto the counter before she coughed like crazy from getting the liquid into her lungs. She cleared her throat before looking at Kazuma with a 'what the fuck' look, "ME PREGNANT?"

"Why else would you go to the hospital?" he argued while crossing his arms.

She growled from having to tell him, "If you must know, I was having a fertility test to make sure that I can have children in the first place! I'm nowhere near pregnant since we didn't have sex yet!"

"Why would Ayano tell me that you were possibly pregnant then? She was even yelling at me," he disputed.

"What? She told me that you were cheating on me with Catherine and she was pretty convincing too," Karai mentioned, looking warily at him as he did the same with her.

They just stared at each other for a minute, trying to piece the information together until it clicked in their heads.

"So Ayano told you that while she told me something else about you…" he was confirming to her.

Karai paced around a bit before looking back at him, "Apparently… so if that's the case then that means…"

"Ayano tricked us." they angrily replied at the same time.

~…~

"ACHOO! ACHOO!" Ayano sneezed, sniffling afterwards, "Why do I have a feeling that two people are mad at me? Oh wait, never mind."

Ren shook his head while waiting for Ayano to recover so that they can continue training outside, "I feel really sorry for you, Nee-san."

~…~

"Catherine gave me something that's probably addressed to us," Kazuma told her as he got the unknown envelope from the counter and opened the letter to read the contents. He had a blank stare once he finished.

"What does it say?" Karai asked curiously.

Kazuma handed it to her and leaned himself against the middle counter. He shook his head and chuckled, "Of course…"

Wondering why he was reacting that way, she read it:

'April Fools! xP Love you guys! – Ayano

p.s. April Fools again, I still hate you Kazuma!'

Karai laughed as she crumpled up the paper, threw it in the garbage and sat next to Kazuma, "Well, we're both pretty stupid for forgetting what holiday it was today, not to mention, for believing her in the first place… I didn't even know she could be this good with pranks."

Kazuma then wrapped an arm around her shoulders and rested his head against hers, "I'm sorry for doubting you."

"Me too; don't worry, we'll get her for this," Karai promised him while placing her arms around his chest.

"Even if she is your sister?"

"Even then. It wasn't too long ago since we found out we were blood-related anyway."

Kazuma smiled, tilting her head to face him so that he could kiss her. They pulled back so their faces were millimeters away from each other, just gazing into each other's eyes.

* * *

**END! What will happen in the beginning of the next chapter? Will something steamy, mild or nothing at all occur? Well, you have to wait until the next chapter to find out since I'm still writing it!**

**Just to let you guys know that if I do go with a _certain approach_, then that means the story will be M rated so if you're not into those kinds of scenes, well, I'll just mark where you can start off from. Hopefully I can write the scene well enough since I have written a few before but never uploaded them, yet at least. Actually, for my D-Grayman fic that I just published a few days ago, there will be a lemon scene posted next week so check it out!**

**Review please and tell me your thoughts! **

**Thanks to readers old and new! You guys are awesome and I hope to see more reviews up so I know how you think the story is going or how it is in general!**

**Check out my D-Grayman and Tales of Symphonia fics if you are interested in those!**


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